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Electronic Road to Democracy

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Tuesday 22 June 1999

ANDREW FREEMAN

One of the undeniable realities of the "Knowledge Age" is that technology will play an ever-increasing role in almost every aspect of our lives.

A key area where significant benefits could be achieved is the process of democracy, since technology enables more people to become involved in the decision-making process.

It's encouraging that the House of Representatives is reassessing its procedures and processes, with a view to improving opportunities for members of the public to play a part.

The Standing Committee on Procedure (SCOP) is reviewing submissions from a range of interested parties in preparation for reporting back to the House later this year.

The ACS made a brief submission outlining various possibilities of using technology in different or additional ways to improve reach, efficiency and effectiveness.

Our submission also outlined a number of objectives, which we encouraged the House of Representatives to adopt as its own. These were:

• To be as open as possible to community interaction in its work, and to broaden the options for citizens to provide input to the workings of the House and its committees;

• To explore new techniques to complement rather than replace current input mechanisms for the community;

• To take advantage of new technology, as appropriate, to facilitate community liaison; and

• To consider working towards a model of more direct democracy, where politicians act more as facilitators rather than indirect representatives for their constituents. The aim would be to increasingly empower constituents to directly put forward their viewpoints to Parliament, rather than the current situation where these viewpoints are primarily presented by politicians. Although the role of politicians in this process would change, it would be no less important than it is at present.

The ACS believes that, because of its immediacy and directness, electronic communications offers significant potential for improving Government decision-making by complementing various existing processes.

We encourage the Standing Committee on Procedure to consider the following recommendations:

• Allow email addresses on a confidential element of electoral rolls. As a further point of contact and an aid to facilitating input from individuals, we recommend that constituents have the option of including their current email address on their electoral roll;

• Provide new options in relation to petitions. We would like to see the approach to petitions broadened to allow people to register opposition as well as support, which would give a more accurate picture of community views on a particular issue. SCOP should explore options to facilitate the electronic submission of petitions as well as enabling people to indicate their support or opposition electronically. For example, if a proposal reaches a certain threshold in terms of support, allow a petition page on the Parliamentary Web site on which voters could indicate their support or opposition. This approach could be used to inexpensively canvass the electorate's views on a range of issues, with MPs also given the option to include on the petition page various questions on which they wish to seek input.

• Broaden options in relation to electors' right to reply to statement about them in Parliament. Technology could be used to facilitate the options of people who are discussed in Parliament to exercise a right of reply. The Parliamentary Web site could include a response interface or list instructions explaining where to send an email or fax.

• Create a moderated aus.gov.aph newsgroup as an aid to more effective networking between the Parliament and the community. Newsgroups are used all over the world to promote discussions and distribute information, and it's interesting to note the presence of several with a uk.gov prefix. A moderated aug.gov.aph newsgroup could be created at no charge by a democratic vote process and disseminated via the Internet, being used to announce topics for discussion and encourage feedback and participation by the wider community.

• Start moderated email lists for House of Representative committees. Such lists would enable interested parties to subscribe and monitor recent developments on issues of concern to them and provide input where appropriate.

• Leverage the Web to improve the information available to committee meetings. The ACS believes SCOP should consider using meeting Web pages as an inexpensive way of enabling a wider range of participants to provide input into committee enquiries. Web terminals could be placed in committee rooms for the use of politicians and bureaucrats, while community representatives could attend virtually using their own PCs and/or Internet terminals in public libraries.

• Parliamentary privilege. To facilitate more forthright discussion, the Government might consider extending parliamentary privilege to relevant newsgroups, email lists and so on, in relation to any discussions or submissions to parliamentary committees.

While this list is far from exhaustive, it clearly shows the potential of technology to open up parliamentary procedures and inquiries for wider participation from the public.

As a democratic society, we encourage all Australian Governments to expedite their adoption of such technologies and processes, for the benefit of all.

Andrew Freeman is Chair of the ACS Community Affairs Board.

The full submission is available at http://www.acs.org.au/boards/cab/elsic/procedure-1999-05-hor.html

To contact the ACS, call on (02) 9299 3666, email: info@acs.org.au or visit the ACS Web site