Engaging citizens through e-Democracy: Analysis of Federal Government Online Public Consultation Trials 2008-2009

Abstract

Following its election, which focused on the internet as a political communication forum (eg. Kevin07), the Australian Federal Government established three online public consultation trials in late 2008 to explore citizen engagement in ongoing policy-making. This presentation reports the findings of in-depth interviews with policy-makers, Government webmasters and communication advisers involved in the trials and in other spontaneously organised citizen engagement sites, as well as independent 'experts' to gain a critical perspective. It reports 10 key findings that can be grouped into four areas of focus which technology, often given the most attention, is less important than culture, policy and resources.