Brisbane has attracted a rich array of technology pioneers, scientists, entrepreneurs, researchers, inventors and new-world thinkers to its major curtain-raiser event ahead of the G20 Leaders Summit in November.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the Brisbane Global Cafe would boost’s the city’s status as the “capital of the world” during the G20 week in November.

Speaking at the official launch of the Brisbane Global Cafe, Cr Quirk said the event at Brisbane City Hall on 12-13 November was attracting some of the world’s most exceptional and influential thinkers as well as support from global media organisations and corporations.

“It’s a bold concept and a first for a G20 host city,” he said.

“With the leaders of the world’s major nations and their support teams, the international media and the Global Cafe in Brisbane, we have an unprecedented opportunity.

“I have repeatedly emphasised that, to attract investment, students, skills and talent, business meetings and tourists, Brisbane has to be on the radar around the globe.

“The Global Cafe will help us extend ‘Team Brisbane’ to a broader audience of influencers and advocates and give our local business, government and academic community access to progressive thinking from around the world.

“The event will also attract hundreds of participants and help drive business for local hotels, restaurants and retail businesses.”

At today’s launch, Cr Quirk announced the first group of speakers for the Global Cafe. More high-profile speaker names will be announced in coming weeks.

“The G20 will be the largest gathering of world leaders Australia has ever hosted and it’s a once-in-a-generation chance for Brisbane to step up and take its place among the emerging new world cities of the 21st century,” he said.

“The Global Cafe, led by economic development board Brisbane Marketing, has attracted phenomenal interest from both world-leading speakers and corporate partners including global media organisations BBC World News and Bloomberg.

“While the program is still being finalised, I can reveal confirmed international speakers will include: Chinese business leader Xu Weiping; renowned biochemist Prof Christopher Leaver from University of Oxford; US demographer Alan Berube; Chinese digital media mogul Liu Shengyi from Tencent; Israeli Digital entrepreneurGadi Mazor and Thai retail developer Chadatip Chutrakul of Siam Piwat.

“Locally, the line-up includes cochlear implant pioneer Professor Robert Shepherd who is leading the development of a bionic eye; Chairman of Lirrwi Yolngu Tourism Djawa Burarrwanga; intensive care medicine director at RBWH Professor Jeffrey Lipman; antibiotic-resistant bacteria researcher Professor David Paterson and Young Australian of the Year 2012 and founder 2Mar Robotics Marita Cheng.”

Cr Quirk said the program would boast about 70 speakers – many of whom will also be engaging with local businesses while here – with up to 1000 people in the audience, including a large media contingent.

“I am also pleased to announce that the event will be live-streamed online and broadcast in King George Square as well as covered by local and global media outlets,” he said.

The event would explore important issues around improving human life, developing cities that match future needs, powering the future economy, unlocking the opportunities of the digital age and exploring the emerging frontiers of tourism.

“The November event will be the highlight but the Global Cafe also includes a website rich with thought-provoking content aimed at generating discussion (www.globalcafe.com.au) as well as a series of events between August and November and an online information and discussion forum,” he said.

“Anyone interested in participating or attending the Brisbane Global Cafe event can register their interest on the global cafe website.”

Cr Quirk last week announced five high-profile identities had been appointed as Brisbane Global Cafe Chairs to steer the conversations:

• Brisbane cervical cancer vaccine pioneer Professor Ian Frazer
• national tourism identity Christopher Brown AM
• UK-based advisor for cities and business Greg Clark
• CSIRO executive Dr Alex Wonhas
• international entrepreneurial leadership and business growth expert Dr Jana Matthews.

“I’d also like to recognise the contribution of the co-chairs: CEO of QIMR Berghofer Professor Frank Gannon, Regional Director Pacific for the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Chris Flynn and CEO of the International Energy Centre Tim McLennan,” he said.

“While the official Brisbane G20 summit will focus on achieving stronger economic and employment growth and dealing with future economic shocks, the global cafe will add a new dimension to the G20 summit.

“It’s a first for a G20 host city and I hope the concept will be adopted by other G20 host cities in the future.

Brisbane Marketing CEO, John Aitken, said international and Australian media, industry thought-leaders, business leaders, academia, and individuals with a particular interest in one or more of the themes would be encouraged to take part.

“This program has been a specifically-targeted global outreach of people we’d like to include in the Brisbane story going forward,” Mr Aitken said.

“We will be seeking to continue to work collaboratively with them to create investment opportunities that build Brisbane’s future as an emerging global city and a major player in the Asia Pacific.”

Academic rigour, journalistic flair

The Abbott government, when faced with opposition over the past year, has commonly resorted to two lifeline statements. The first is that it’s carrying out the “will of the people”. And the second is that “the people have spoken”. These are words taken from the vocabularies of demagogues, not democrats.

Frontbenchers like Joe Hockey, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Greg Hunt use these phrases to delegitimise their opponents both within parliament and more broadly. In effect, they’re saying if you disagree with government policy you are at odds with the “will of the people”. This is a serious claim.

Turnbull, for example, claimed the mandate to govern in 2013 when facing opposition over changes to the National Broadband Network (NBN). Last March, Hunt argued that the Senate was blocking the will of the people by not passing the carbon tax repeal. Hockey and Abbott have repeatedly claimed the same in reference to the Senate blocking tax repeals.

How did ‘the people’ vote?

The problem when politicians do this is that they are claiming untruths. Let’s look at some 2013 election data to partly justify our claim that at best the government can only claim to be representing the “will of a minority”.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the population of Australia was over 23.2 million at the time of the 2013 national election. Of that 23.2 million, 14.7 million were registered to vote. And of that 14.7 million, the Liberals in their own right picked up 4.1 million first-preference votes (the Liberals gained 2.8 million votes in support through the other Coalition parties and also through the transferable vote).

In sum, the Abbott-led government can at most claim to be representing the will of about 6.9 million Australians out of 23.4 million. But, if we look at the composition of the cabinet (these ministers are typically the “decision-makers” or executives), 16 come from the Liberals, two from the Nationals and one from the Country Liberals. This means that the cabinet is essentially making decisions as representatives of fewer than 5.9 million Australians.

That’s about 25% of Australians or 40% of enrolled voters. The government thus cannot logically make a claim to be carrying out the “will of the people”. It’s not even carrying out the will of a majority of voters.

The most the government can say is that it is carrying out what it presumes to be the will of a substantial minority. We say presume because how many of the 5.9 million voters who gave their first-preference vote to Coalition parties fully understood and endorsed everything they were voting for? And how many have since changed their minds on policies the Abbott government revealed only after the election?

Reform needed to express democratic will

If the government is serious about acting on the “will of the people”, as dubious as that ambition might be, then reforming Australia’s electoral system should be on the agenda. The reason for this is it’s because of the voting system we have that 25% of Australians were empowered to bring to bear a majority government. This problem doesn’t exist in New Zealand and Germany, which use a mixed member proportional representation system, which Australians should consider adopting.

But in focusing on these numbers we’ve skirted the main flaw in the government’s heavy-hitting lines. The objection comes in part from political philosophy and in part from electoral studies.

Political philosophers have a long history of debating whether the will of the people can be determined or whether we can ever know if the people have spoken. Popular references to “the people” and their will tend to be oversimplified. More often than not, it’s used as a political weapon to shut down debate.

Who are the people? Is it enough to “speak” once every three or four or five years (depending on the nation or state in question) – or even six years in the case of individual senators – until the next election is held?

The field of electoral studies makes a more concrete point. Elections are heavily mediated and controlled procedures – there is actually very little “speaking” going on by “the people” when citizens vote.

Voters that successfully vote are already by definition a small majority of Australians. The government, and indeed Australians, have to confront the fact that democracy means more than 14.7 million people being allowed to vote every once in a while.

Voters participate in a system that determines, numerically, which representative will win what seat. This shows who the people will be working with over the coming government’s term. The substance of democracy comes after the election.

Democracy is not a winner-takes-all scenario where those who win the election become the rulers with a sacred mandate to govern as they see fit. Democracy is an ongoing process of deliberation, monitoring, inclusion and resistance. To work properly, it requires voters and their representatives to work together to achieve the most palatable ends for Australians.

“The will of the people” and “the people have spoken” are false constructions that are used to delegitimise opponents and shut down debate. It’s a bastardisation of democracy.

BRISBANE ABORIGINAL SOVEREIGN EMBASSY RESPONSE TO G20 SUMMIT

The 12th to the 16th of November will see Brisbane playing host to the G20 Summit. Leaders from the world’s richest economies will be meeting on Jaggera country to discuss how best to control the world and destroy indigenous lands and resources for profit. Australia is among the 20, taking its place as one of the most economically rich countries in the world while the living conditions and quality of life for its First Nations people rank among the lowest in the world.

These are desperate and critical times for us as First Nations people. Our life expectancy is only 45 years, deaths in custody have almost doubled since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the stolen generations continue with almost 14000 of our children in out of home care, youth suicide rates are at an all time high, the NT Intervention has been extended for another 10 years and the land that was won back during the land rights movement is being taken again by a government that is refusing to build community housing and infrastructure unless 99 year leases are signed.

The 40th Anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy represented a coming together of several generations of aboriginal activists with non-aboriginal solidarity. The anniversary connected people in a way not seen since the 1982 Commonwealth Games protest. The G20 Summit is another chance for a week of Aboriginal unity. It is time for us to come together as a network of strong Aboriginal nations sharing ideas, perspectives and solutions to the myriad of struggles we face under colonisation.

“In 1972 the tent embassy really highlighted to me what sort of strength aboriginal people have got when we all come together in unity” Billy Craigie Jan 27 1992 

Colonisation is not a thing of the past; the colonial power structure exists today. The majority of the people living in Australia are from the dominant colonialist culture and, whether consciously or unconsciously, exploit and benefit from our land and culture while conditions continue to deteriorate for our people. Decolonisation is the first step towards liberation, recognition of our sovereignty, and self determination.

The Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy will be boycotting the G20 Summit, which will be taking place on stolen aboriginal land. We want decolonisation to be recognised as a priority and added to the agenda as a political reality.

Decolonisation is a process for all Australians and provides a chance for all who live on this land to build a new society based on Aboriginal culture and values; a society ruled by social need and environmental sustainability, not one of greed and discrimination. A unique society with a definitive system of laws and customs to govern it, based on the world’s oldest living culture.

Musgrave Park has been declared a zone for peaceful protest during the G20 Summit. Prior to invasion, Musgrave was home to the Kalperum-Jaggin people and is a part of Kurilpa ‘place of the water rats’. The park has been an important meeting place for First Nations people since time began as it still is today. We ask all attendees to respect Jaggera Law in this historically significant meeting place and the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy sacred fire.

There will be a second media release outlining appropriate protocols for all wishing to visit or camp in the park during G20. Respecting traditional protocols allows everyone an opportunity to actively practice decolonisation and have a better understanding of the relevance our laws have in the struggle of all peoples against oppression.

“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting our time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together” Attributed to The Collective Aboriginal Voice

We welcome cooperation from the general community, activist groups, unions and elsewhere. We aspire to develop a united community front which fully recognises the need to decolonise.

For more information contact Wayne Wharton on 0408 064 900, Paul Spearim 0416 069 788 or Debbie Jones 0422 569 325