It would be impossible to conduct online consultations with the public of the public. There would never be enough staff or politician's to respond to everyone's ideas or queries. Better they be off doing their jobs as they should be.

You would only get a form letter response anyway and a lot of twitter.

participatory democracy through web 2.0 is a fascinating topic. In traditional surveys bout which professionals we trust the most politicians traditionally rate badly. So how can web 2.0 help politicians become more trustworthy. Easy, through referrals. The strength of Obama's campaign was partly on the back of the 18 - 35 age group 'friending' Obama. Obama's friends then started a conversation with their parents and grandparents and soon everybody was onboard. Democracy and social media is one of the topics that will be discussed at the 2009 iappANZ privacy conference on 14 October 2009. Check out Mozelle Thompson's bio at http:www.iappanz.org