SomethingToDo2

It is a universally accepted truth among the teaching profession that, outside of some of the senior maths subjects, Civics and the Australian system of governance is one of the most mind-crampingly boring subjects imaginable to the average teenager. What relevance electorates, party whips and the Senate to hormonal adolescents who have enough on their plate, without added additional complexity of preferential voting? Who’d want to be a politician anyway? They’re all thieving crooks, liars and cowards!

Such is the prevailing wisdom.

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re a political tragic. You love the cut and thrust, the Machiavellian machinations in front of, behind and beside the camera lens in order to gain, retain and regain power. You understand the need for a well-informed, participatory society in which the populace have an understanding of the issues facing them as a country and the ability to have a say on those issues.

But how did you get that way? Did one of those issues leap out and have a very real impact on your life, such as the controversy surrounding immigration? Did you have a teacher who inspired democratic ideals in you with fervor and panache? Are you a slimy, power-hungry git who has always wanted to lord it over others?

Me, I’m trying to create political geeks, artificially likes. When I’m not writing Crikey’s Lessons in History column, I’m off preparing the minds of the young of Melbourne’s west to face a big, deep, wide world. To be precise, I teach English and Civics. This year, when faced with the prospect of teaching Civics to a group of Year 8s during the federal election and near retching at the thought of holding yet another mock election, I was struck with an idea.

Well, actually, the idea struck me while reading yet another report of some teen being deeply, deeply unpleasant to another over Facebook. “Another social media bad news story”, I thought, slopping Nescafe down my shirt. But what if I could use said social media to effect some change? What if I could use the very same tools that we hear some much bad news about to create an engaging, lively forum for students to learn the values of a democratic society.

Thus was born Aussie Democrazy. A simple blog, supplemented by a Twitter and Facebook account and a YouTube channel (which will be going live soon), we’re hoping to expand it to become a place where students from mine and other schools can come to connect with political figures. At the moment we’re throwing questions to the public to help us build a basic understanding of politics. What I’m asking of you, dear Crikey reader, is to come and tell our crew of budding Laurie Oakes, Wayne Swans and Sarah Hanson-Youngs what you love about politics. Add it as a comment and we’ll use it as a springboard to drive our questioning as the project progresses. Go on. Consider it your good act for the day. A pinpoint of brightest light in the midst of darkness and muck.

There’s also another way you can help us. If you’re a politician, a staffer or a political journalist, we would be absolutely delighted to interview you, either online, in person or via video. If you’re interested and have a little bit of time to spare, please don’t hesitate to contact us via e-mail or our Twitter account, which we will be using over the course of the campaign and beyond to report on and discuss our findings and share our interviews with a huge audience.

While we all enjoy a good snark at and some healthy cynicism of the Aussie political sphere, it’s important that we leave a generation of political wonks, geeks, nerds and fiends ready to hold the torch aloft and press on. Hopefully, with the support of political tragics put there and a lot of coffee, Aussie Democrazy can help make that happen in some small way.