Can Deliberative Engagement Practices 'revitalise Democracy’?: An Exploration of the Victorian Local Government Act 2020

The past few decades have seen what is described as a 'deliberative wave' (OECD, 2020), with governments increasingly applying democratic innovations that champion public participation as a means to tackling complex policy problems. Alongside employing processes such as citizen’s assemblies, mini-publics, and participatory budgeting, there has also been increased interest in institutionalising practices through regulatory frameworks, thereby embedding citizen participation in the formal structures of government decision-making. The Victorian Local Government Act 2020 is one such attempt at institutionalising democratic innovations, with legislators suggesting it would 'revitalise democracy' by putting ‘the community at the heart of council decision-making’. This paper presents findings from case study research based on this legislation's operationalisation. It examines how deliberative engagement practices were shaped by both organisational drivers and dominant discourses that rendered them susceptible to co-option. It considers the impact of the legislation vis à vis its articulated intention to ‘revitalise democracy’ and provides more a nuanced understanding of the cultural shifts needed for democratic innovations to be operationalised in a manner that is more likely to achieve the normative and epistemic aspirations they were conceived to address.