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MEDIA RELEASE 11 July 2002 NSW MPs first with Dome of Conscience MPs in the Parliament of NSW are voting with their conscience in an online experiment to connect the Parliament to the people. On 27 June 2002 Independent MP Robert Oakeshott used the Parliament Chamber to invite all NSW MPs to participate in an online issues forum called the “Dome of Conscience”. Sydney-based BigPulse.com has donated the Dome of Conscience to the NSW Parliament. It’s a virtual space where elected Members can exercise a daily, anonymous yet transparent conscience vote on all issues. The idea is to let the public see where the Members stand on the issues of the day with the security of anonymous voting. Anyone can see the Dome at www.bigpulse.com/domensw but only NSW MPs can vote in this special poll in the website www.bigpulse.com. “It’s a concept all politicians should embrace in the public interest. It’s potentially another evolution in democracy that will connect the Parliament to the people. Australia invented the secret ballot in 1856. Now we are exploring democracy even further,” said Robert Oakeshott Member for Port Macquarie. "There are many important issues that do not feature on the political agenda. The Dome will allow all MPs to have a role in setting the agenda. It will ensure MPs have an opportunity to represent the will of the people at all times. The Dome will also ensure that minority views always get a voice and help protect the Parliament from the corruption of corporate influence – democracy will be stronger," said Anthony McGrane Independent Member for Dubbo. "The Dome of Conscience allows regional and isolated people to identify issues, better understand the whole range of matters before their elected representatives, maintain connection with their local Member and become more involved in managing our changing and challenging world," said Peter Webb National Party Member for Monaro. "The Dome gives all MPs an opportunity to vote with their conscience without threatening a party line or the party system," said Richard Torbay Independent Member for Northern Tablelands. “The Dome allows MPs to gauge the views of other MPs on various issues, in particular, issues of conscience such as the age of consent or euthanasia. It encourages free thought and creativity. I look forward to accessing this site to keep abreast of issues of concern to other MPs and the community at large,” said Marianne Saliba ALP Member for Illawarra. “The Dome of Conscience will produce a concise but collective expression of Members’ true opinions on the big issues – there is no distinction between the parties in this forum,” said BigPulse founder Ralph McKay. “Members, the media and the electorate will see an unbiased picture of the middle or common ground as perceived by the elected Members. Undoubtedly it will become a reference from which the positions of the parties and Members are assessed,” said McKay. BigPulse polls are unique. There are no questions, no surveys and no pollster setting the agenda. Opinions in the form of placards are harvested directly from the target group – in this case Members of the NSW Parliament. All opinion placards compete daily for votes from MPs and are ranked live in the Dome’s leaderboard for all to see. It’s a polling method that produces a graded expression of the intensity of opinions on the big issues. It does not attempt to quantify disinterest. The opinion placards appearing in the Parliament’s Dome of Conscience poll can migrate to the public BigPulse poll known as the “Main Board”. This commonality of placards will facilitate easy comparison between the priorities of the public and the collective priorities of the Members. “MPs participation in the Dome will help enliven the interest of all people in the political process and we as Members of Parliament have this challenge to break cynicism and apathy. It’s our challenge no one else’s,” said Robert Oakeshott. “A daily conscience vote will take Members just a minute or two. The idea will appeal to all MPs committed to giving their constituents the strongest possible voice, transparency, open government and democracy,” said McKay. Anyone in the community can now contact their local MP and request that an issue be represented in the Dome as an opinion placard. The placard can then be seen by anyone online and other MPs can show immediate support by voting for the placard. The Dome produces a concise ranking of issues in a form that is ideal for the media to reflect to the broader community. “The same BigPulse technology can be used to introduce transparent democracy to the rank and file of any organization – an anonymous request from just one person is all it takes,” said McKay. Democracy alive with a BigPulse! |
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