Good news. In a testament to the parallel evolution of ideas, it turns out that one of the projects I advocated at the 2020 Summit was already being built at the time:
"In the absence of philanthropic funding for
such a project, a one-off endowment should be made to a suitable
organisation, for example the ANU’s Democratic Audit, to set up and maintain a website similar to the UK’s http://www.theyworkforyou.com/"
Well, in the absense of philanthropic funding, a handful of volunteers took it upon themselves to build it for nix. The site is now in beta – check it out at http://www.openaustralia.org/
In the words of the founders:
For all its faults and foibles, our democracy is a profound gift from previous generations.
Yet most people don’t know the name of their representative, let alone what they
do or say in their name.
We aim to help bridge this growing democratic disconnect, in the belief that there is
little wrong with Parliament that a healthy mixture of transparency and public engagement won’t fix.
Miriam Lyons is the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Development. Formerly the Policy Coordinator of New Matilda, Miriam has a long history of bringing policy ideas to new audiences, as the founding director of the Interface Festival of Ideas in Sydney, and director of the Ideas Program for the StraightOutof Brisbane Festival. Miriam has also worked as a freelance writer and a media development consultant in East Timor with the international NGO, Internews. Miriam was a participant in the 2020 Summit and was recently nominated in the Thinkers’ category of The Australian’s Emerging Leaders series.