We love democracy. How can we not, we tell ourselves, when we look at the alternatives? It's interesting though to reflect on what democracy means to us. We generally measure it by the extent of the right to vote for our political representatives or by the plurality of political parties.
Slovenian philosopher, Slavoj Zizek, says democracy is the ancient Greek name for 'the intrusion of the Excluded into the socio-political space'. This is a useful conceptualisation. It raises the practical question for any society as to where the excluded are. When you start to think about the excluded and ask why their exclusion is happening you begin to re-evaluate the strength of your democracy.
As Italian political theorist, Domenico Losurdo has written: 'Democracy cannot be defined by abstracting the fate of the Excluded.' If we love democracy we will want to find out who is excluded and why. We will not be satisfied with glib justifications that put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the excluded. We will take practical steps to remove the structural causes of exclusion.
One of the decisions at the recent ALP Conference that has gone almost unnoticed is the resolution to appoint a National Children's Commissioner. This was moved by the Member for Fremantle, Melissa Parke, who chairs the UNICEF Parliamentary Association, and was strongly supported at the conference and later by groups such as the St Vincent de Paul Society, UNICEF and Save the Children.
Children and young people figure prominently among the excluded in our democracy. Hopefully the appointment of a National Commissioner for Children will be an important step in creating a vehicle for their intrusion into the socio-political space.
During the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay's visit to Australia earlier this year she urged the Federal Government to appoint a commissioner to protect the rights of vulnerable children. It has been 21 years since Australia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which affirms that children are entitled to enjoy the same human rights as adults.
It is time we took seriously our obligations to prevent the growing inequality of resources and opportunities that condemn many children to exclusion and disadvantage. Article 4 of the convention states: 'Governments must undertake