Senator On-Line

Now here’s a dangerous concept. Senator On-Line is a political party which, if elected, will run a web poll for every piece of legislation passing through the senate. The elected senator will then vote according to the result of said web poll.

Now, putting to one side the small issue that (if elected) one lucky person will be paid $127,060 plus expenses per annum to sit on their arse in Canberra contributing (presumably) nothing to the parliamentary process other than their vote (decided by the poll), let’s look at the implications of the aforementioned system.

39 seats are required for a majority in the senate. The Coalition would need 20 seats, and Labor 25, to fulfill this quota. Unlikely. Therefore the balance of power will be held by the Greens, Family First, and any other minor parties who happen to scrape through (No Pokies for example). In the highly unlikely situation that Senator On-Line (SOL) was to win a seat, they would share in this balance of power.

Readers may recall that in these tight senate situations, just one vote can be enough to swing the balance and pass government legislation (and subsequently destroy an entire political party… Meg Lees anyone?). In the situation where SOL was elected, legislation could then come down to an online poll. Assuming this on-line polling system is robust enough that they can enforce their policy of one vote per person (unlikely), we could start to see massive grass-roots political campaigns running all year around.

The long and short of it? Increased government spending on advertising, and a barrage of union officials knocking at your door 365 days per year. And that’s not even the scary bit.

With a democratically elected senator actually giving their electorate the chance to vote on policy, we would start to see some semblance of democracy being introduced to the parliamentary process. This is clearly dangerous, and should be prevented at all costs. Canberra is no place for democracy – let’s keep that stuff to Australian Idol where it belongs.

Worryingly, with the increased internetisation (yes, it’s kind of a real word) of the younger generations, it’s only a matter of time before this SOL senator becomes a reality – maybe not now, or 2010, but certainly within 15 years. Be afraid. Be very afraid.