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Online public consultation
UTS:
and civic engagement
Learnings from Federal Government Trials and
International Experiences
Jim Macnamara PhD, FPRIA, FAMI, CPM, FAMEC
Professor of Public Communication &
Director, Australian Centre for Public Communication

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Terms
 E-government
 Government 2.0
 E-democracy
 E-citizenship
UTS:
 Digital democracy
 Teledemocracy
 Cyberdemocracy

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Terms
 E-government
• Primarily the online delivery of services
 E-democracy
• “The use of Web technologies to engage citizens in
UTS:
debate, discussion, consultation and online voting”
(Kearns, 2002, p. 11)
• Online submissions
• Online voting
• Online public consultation
• Online civic engagement in democratic processes

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E-government: E-democracy
 Initiatives underway internationally
• US – Clinton adminstration 1993-97. Mainly services
− FirstGov site Sept 2002 – now www.usa.gov
• Canada – bilingual site opened Dec 1995. Now
Government of Canada or Gouvernement du Canada
UTS:
− http://canada.gc.ca
• UK – a long history of development
− www.gateway.gov.uk – registration of services
− www.govtalk.gov.uk – for accessing govt documents
− www.petitions.pm.gov.uk – petitions
− www.number10.gov.uk site
− http://petitions.number10.gov.uk
− www.direct.gov.uk launched Mar 2004
− Directionlessgov – www.directionlessgov.com

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E-government: E-democracy
 New Zealand
• www.e.govt.nz
 UK Cabinet Power of Information Task Force
(UK Cabinet, 2009)
• 3,000 government Web sites – aim to reduce to 1,000
UTS:
• Review report 2007; final report 2009
 Australia (federally)
• One of the first to publish Hansard
• Webcast Parliamentary proceedings
• National Office of the Information Economy (NOIE)
established in 1997
• Office of Government Online 2000
• Australian Government Information Management
Office (AGIMO) replaced NOIE in 2004

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E-government: E-democracy - Australia
 Future Challenges for E-Government (AGIMO 2004)
• Noted an “international trend towards online service
delivery and greater citizen interaction”
• Most focus on service delivery
 Better Practice Checklist on Online Policy
UTS:
Consultation (AGIMO 2004)
 Election of the Rudd government (Kevin07) new
focus
 Consulting with Government – Online (AGIMO, June
2008)
 Minister Tanner announced online consultation
trials July 2008

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Federal Online Consultation Trials
 Three (3) online consultation trials launched Dec
2008 – Mar 2009
• Department of Broadband and Digital Economy blog
to discuss digital economy
UTS:
• Department of Employment and Work Relations
forum for teachers/educators on early education
• Attorney-General’s Department consultation site

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10 Key learnings
1. Planning is key
 Planning must address
• Clear intent and objectives
• Choose the right platform to suit objectives
UTS:
• Moderation policy (light touch important)
• Resources
• Evaluation
 Planning should involve three key parties
• Senior policy officers – high-level support
• IT/Web technical staff – technically strong and
secure
• Communication staff – must be communicative

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10 Key Learnings
2. Controversial issues can hijack consultation
• Minister Conroy’s announcement of proposed internet
filtering (‘Clean Feed’) sent DBDE blog into meltdown
• AG’s site targeted by long-running campaign for an
Australian Bill of Rights
UTS:
• DEWR forum launched amid collapse of the nation’s
largest childcare provider, ABC Learning Centres

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UTS:
“Prominent Australian bloggers have
lashed the Federal Government over its
first attempt at public consultation via a
blog, which has already been hijacked by
critics of its plan to censor the internet.”

UTS: THINK. CHANGE. DO
Online consultation

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10 Key Learnings
3. Time frame – fast response required
• A challenge in Public Service environment
• Guidelines and fast-tracking required
4. Resources
UTS:
• Dedicated staff required to handle large volume of
blog posts, comments, e-mails, etc
5. Culture
• Public Service culture presents some challenges
• ‘Champions’ required to change PS culture (UK)
• PS staff also need protection from political blame (UK)
6. Design and navigation
• Citizens should not have to know how government
works to find things (UK)

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10 Key Learnings
7. Language
• Citizens should be able to talk in their language
• Policy on slang, swearing, humour, parody, etc
• Flexibility (Macnamara, 2008)
• Voting, seconding, favourites, etc
UTS:
8. Can be government-hosted or third party –
“managed e-citizenship” or “autonomous e-
citizenship” (Stephen Coleman, 2008)
• Government sites can be intimidating, remote,
unknown
• “Fish where the fish are” – eg. GetUp, NetMums
• Probably need a combination of both

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10 Key Learnings
9. Specialist sense making tools and processes
required – for both government and citizens
For Government For Citizens
Monitoring (listening) Background reading (sidebars)
UTS:
Stock responses, placeholders Categorising
Data/text mining Simple voting, supporting
Categorising Editors (summaries)
Argumentation software* Argumentation software*
* MIT Deliberatorium (formerly Collaboratorium) (Klein 2007)

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Key Learnings
10. While controversial issues present challenges to
open environments, day-to-day consultation and
engagement within communities of
interest/practice is well suited to online
•
UTS:
Museums (eg. War Memorial)
• Arts and cultural organisations
• Austrade
• Basic taxation questions (ATO)
 Public consultation and civic engagement
required/desirable beyond major policy making

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References
Coleman, S. (2008). Doing IT for themselves: Management versus autonomy in
youth e-citizenship. In W. Bennett, Civic life online: Learning how digital
media can engage youth (pp. 189-206). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Department of Finance and Deregulation. (2008). E-democracy community of
practice. Retrieved February 1, 2009 from http://www.finance.gov.au/e-
government/better-practice-and-collaboration/cop/e-democracy.html
Hirst, M., & Harrison, J.( 2007). Communication and new media: From broadcast
UTS:
to narrowcast. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Kearnes, I. (2002). Code red: Progressive politics in the digital age. London:
Institute for Public Policy Research.
Klein, M. (2007). The MIT Collaboratorium: Enabling effective large-scale
deliberation for complex problems. MIT Sloan School of Management
Working Paper 4679-08, 31 December. Retrievefd November 7, 2008 from
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1085295
Macnamara, J. (2008). Internet media and the public sphere: The 2007
Australian e-electioneering experience, Media International Australia, no. 29,
November, pp. 7-19.
UK Cabinet Office. (2009). Power of Information Task Force Report, February.
Retrieved April 28, 2009 from
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/reports/power_of_information.aspx