Aussie Online Political Party a World First
Aussie Online Political Party a World First
October 16, 2007: Australia’s latest Political Party to run for Senate is marking itself as a world-first; If elected, ‘Senator On-line’ will vote on legislation only in accordance with the majority of registered voters who voice their opinions online.
Stepping off the Web 2.0 phenomenon and now well documented power of collaboration online, Senator On-line (SOL) is running for senate in the upcoming Federal Election on the promise that if elected, its senator(s) will only vote for or against bills if a definite majority of Australian voters can agree.
This would be determined via online polls offering registered voters informative debate on the issue, and the opportunity to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on every piece of legislation to end up before the Senate.
Berge Der Sarkissian, a frustrated voter and business man, formed Senator On-line at www.senatoronline.org.au off an idea that questioned how better communications between citizens and politicians could improve the state of democracy.
“I just got a bit frustrated and a little concerned that the majority view was being sidelined by vocal minority and lobby groups,” he says.
Citing specific examples such as the derailment of the Northern Territory bill for Euthanasia back in the 1990’s, Der Sarkissian believes it’s the real specific issues that are often lost to the minority.
Der Sarkissian approached the Australian Electoral Commission in early 2006 with a mission to have his online, politically independent party registered. “They weren’t too concerned about the particular idea,” he says. “They were more concerned about the guidelines that constitute a political party, things like needing to have a proper aim, 500 members and a constitution they’re happy with.
The idea is that if SOL can get a senator elected, he/she will vote purely on the basis of the online count. In order to ensure a majority, Der Sarkissian says a 70 percent majority of at least 100,000 votes will be needed in order to vote for or against the bill. If this figure is unobtainable, the decision will go to the executive committee who will decide whether or not the senator either votes or not votes with the majority decided.
Ensuring security and accurate representation of registered Australian voters is obviously fundamental to the success of the party and something Der Sarkissian is certain can be achieved. “Because we’re an Australian political party we can get access to the electoral role, so from there we can ensure users sign of by giving their identifying particulars,” he says.
“As a greater proportion of the population takes this up we will research and investigate any situations where there is someone signing on who’s already signed on. We’ll be able to do tracing and research based on IP addresses.”
Der Sarkissian says as take-up increases over time the system will get more and more sophisticated. “It’s a lot more robust than the current electoral system where you can rock up to a number of polling booths and not be asked for identification,” he says.
SOL has also developed strategies to ensure that citizens are not only informed, but also interested in the particular different pieces of legislation they can vote on. A person can nominate their areas of interest when registering with the system while Der Sarkissian maintains the more media coverage an issue receives, the more it will encourage citizens onto the site to have themselves heard.
It what shaping up to be an ambitious yet interest plan, Der Sarkissian admits there would still be a fair amount of work to undertake before the Upper House of Parliament sits in July 2008. For one, the online resources would need to be developed while fair and informed research staff employed to ensure the issues are known and presented in an accurate and balanced manner. There’s also the challenge of actually getting elected.