Australian Government proposes Citizens’ blog

The Federal Government has released a paper asking for submissions into the possibility of starting a blog that would facilitate the discussion of policy to provide Australian citizens with a more interactive approach to policy development.

The blog would enable people to take part in consultations, posting views in relation to various items of text or video provided by the Government.

The discussion paper asks people to say how they would like to use an online consultation website and what features they would want to have included in it. Feedback will go into a public report.
via The Age

This is quite exciting news on an issue that was first raised in May and announced yesterday by Special Minister of State Gary Nairn.

I was a bit despondent about our Government’s use of social media earlier this month. After I asked readers of The Local if they knew of any local, state or federal blogs and came away with only three. However, this is quite encouraging as it looks like a big step in the right direction in allowing people to meaningfully engage with policy makers. I will go through the discussion paper later tonight and post my thoughts as well as any interesting issues sometime tomorrow.