The ALP has once again staked out their position at the forefront of information technology usage for an Australian political party by streaming live proceedings direct to the internet.
The Labor Party is recognised as having the most effective and comprehensive web site of any Australian political party and this latest initiative demonstrates the commitment by the Party leadership to make the ALP as accessible as possible.
Renowned Tasmanian software company, Trumpet, rose to the task with the technology delivering a live audio and video link to conference.
Under consideration at the ALP National Conference is the Party’s new platform and as amendments were made on the floor of conference, they too are available on-line. This allowed the on-line community to progressively track progress at the conference. Audio and text versions are available of selected speeches from our Party leaders.
Cyber – democracy and internet access.
Cyber-democracy is a concept that has the potential to further empower Australians to participate in Australia’s democratic processes. On the 18 August last year, most federal politicians got internet access to both the World Wide Web and internet email. The email addresses for those on line are listed at this address: http://www.aph.gov.au/senate.
However, whilst the existing on-line community has the unique opportunity to communicate electronically with their elected representatives, the majority of Australians do not, with research showing that lower income families a far less likely to have internet access.
As federal, state and local government seek to save on expenditure, on-line services are emerging as a means of delivering government services providing a powerful base to the argument that government must actively address the current inequities in internet access.
It is therefore imperative that existing educational, socio-economic and geographic barriers are removed to ensure that all Australians have the opportunity to participate in cyber-democracy.
To this end there are several elements of the ALP’s platform that specifically address the need for all Australians to have the opportunity to participate meaningfully in the information age via the internet.
For further information, contact Kate Lundy 0419 421553
ALP National Conference Hobart.
