INTRODUCTION

The mission of OurVoice is to use technology to enable greater citizen participation in democracy and arrest the democratic decline witnessed globally.

Central to this is creating easy-to-use interfaces for people to be able to participate in democracy in ways not possible today. By this, we are referring to the use of digital tools both websites and mobile apps.

WHY THIS IS NEEDED IN THE WORLD

The evidence for the need for interventions in this space come from multiple sources, including the OECD, who in 2022 conducted a major study into the functioning of democracies around the world, releasing a paper recommending that governments “connect and engage better with citizens in policy design, delivery and reform”.

We are talking here about a completely new way of governing being recommended. One that includes citizens at every stage of the policy process: creation, delivery, review and reform.

However, the tools necessary for this kind of inclusion and participation at scale do not exist. It cost Australian taxpayers more than $300M to conduct the recent Voice to Parliament Referendum, which is effectively a single-question survey.

Technology must be utilised to drastically reduce the cost and burden of participating in governance decision-making.

For more details, please see the Civic Health of Australia Report produced by OurVoice in partnership with the Australian Leadership Index which outlines the problem in more detail.

EVIDENCE THAT POLICY CO-DESIGN WORKS

Taiwan has pioneered the use of policy co-design processes leveraging technology to enable all citizens to participate in policy decision-making using online and offline methods. These processes were stress-tested in the nation’s response to Covid, and the results offer strong validation for policy co-design:

·       Death rate hundreds of times smaller than UK, US and other major nations

·       No mass lockdowns

·       Only nation whose GDP grew through the period

PARTNERSHIPS

We recognise that our mission is extensive and that to succeed requires the input, inclusion and support of the whole community, individuals and organisations.

We are grateful to have partnered with several major organisations including Monash, Deakin, Sydney and Curtin Universities, and market research technology provider QuestionPro for their ongoing support of this important initiative and a demonstration of their commitment to the community.