The member for Cowper

A model for the newly elected representative for the Cowper electorate:

Whether you voted for me or not, I gained more than 50% of votes in the last election and I have accepted the responsibility to convey to the parliament your intentions for how our community can contribute to and benefit from government.

My first task is to work towards establishing two way communication with each voter so that I can let you know what's happening in parliament and you can tell me whether I'm doing what you need me to do.

To do that effectively I'll have a couple of helpers. I'll introduce them to you when they are settled in.

As soon as I get to know my way around in Canberra - who does what and how - we will migrate this temporary home to cowper.gov.au - don't bother looking there yet - it's a vacant lot! It has remained untended by the local representative - a member of a conservative party - ever since .gov.au was invented - about 30 years ago.

Once we move in we'll offer each voter in the electorate a space of their own - cowper.mygov.au/space - and an email address @cowper.gov.au

You'll be able to redirect that email to your own private mailbox if you wish and set your preference for how you would like to interact with me - by email or by text if you want me store your mobile number.

What I propose is this:

Whenever a bill comes up for debate in parliament I will send you a link to a poll asking you whether you are in favour of the bill or not. You will be offered a precis of the bill with a link to a full description and prompted to respond with a simple yes or no. The poll will naturally have a closing date before the bill is presented in the house.

I will take the result of the poll into consideration when casting my vote in the house. If a majority of voters in the electorate have voted in favour or against the bill then that is how I will vote. If not, I will vote according to the platform on which you have elected me taking into account the poll result and any other information I can gather about the wishes of the people in the electorate who have been able to convey their wishes in other ways.

The tally of our poll will be shown on our web site and a history of all the polls we've held and how I've voted in the house.

Disclamer: I will vote against bills that are too convoluted and clumsy hoping they will be defeated forcing the proponent to redraft. (Some of the motions that are put to the house are bizarre to say the least!) I'll communicate this on the site but won't hold a poll.

Obviously this will work best if all or most of the voters in Cowper participate so when we get going whenever the opportunity presents I will be encouraging that (but I won't bomb your letterbox with glossy brochures!).

Our site will have other features which you will be free to use - along the lines of a "ning" as described at ning.com - so there is scope for a lot of discussion, articles of interest, publicity for groups - a lot of information can potentially be made freely available to the voters of Cowper.