Dear Graham, great to see the exposure for OLO with your survey results published in The Weekend Australian. This prompted me to make this suggestion. How possible would it be to get the Politicians from all Parties to post their “equivalent” policy platforms directly on OLO during the run up to the federal election?

As with Julie Bishop, OLOers only occasionally get the chance to comment directly, it is normally indirectly via a journalistic opinion pieces. Surely the politicians would relish the prospect of direct contact, analysis and comment from this forum.

We have “Australia’s Got Talent”, “Master Chef” and “So You Think You Can Dance”. Why can’t we have something along the lines of “So you think you’re a Politician?”

Let’s face it, there is some real talent on OLO, if Pollies can make a case on here they would really be able to sharpen up their “pitch to the voters”.

You might have to set out some ground rules for our more excitable OLOers, but this could be a standout for the next 5 months. What do you think? And what do OLOers think?

Dear spindoc,

I for one would love to go head to head
with Tony Abbott!

Bring it on!

I imagine that i would be debating with their press secretaries not them.

There should be just ONE official site (probably in the .gov.au domain) where all registered parties place their formal agendas before elections about everything that matters, clearly, side-by-side, so citizens can make a good informed judgement based on the issues that really make a difference for the people.

Alas, the big parties would not allow it because they prefer the current situation, where their politicians are well-known, while those who want to be fully informed must make a significant effort to search for the agendas of small parties with less resources, so ordinary voters do not even know what they stand for.

I don't think OLO is the place, because:
1) it is not so well-known.
2) OLO servers would probably collapse under the network-load if all Australians tried to get their information from here.

I'm for an official site too - for all parties and independents. One in which all policies and platforms are clearly articulated and costed.

Voters could leave questions which can be answered under a FAQ style heading.

Spindoc,
Good idea in theory but how would you suggest that we control the "animals" from turning it into a rant and abuse site.

I can see a whole lot of ill informed, biased, bigoted individuals trying to air their pet idiocies.

Which polies is going to sit there are sift through pages of rubbish let alone answer the questions.

Wouldn't we just get the party lines and responded to by party drones.

Nice thought though a one stop fact site.

Regards
examinator.