Monday, January 24, 2011

Transparency and the Party

I admit that I have been guilty of the odd 'secret society' joke about English Candidates Committee in the past. But there is a serious point to be made, I believe. In a Party where our internal democracy is so important, how does democracy work if accountability and access to those who represent us is limited?

I was reminded of this point by Roy Benford, a member of the Regional Executive in the East of England, on Saturday. He is of the view that English Council is pretty useless in terms of function and accountability, and wants to be able to lobby other members. And I thought to myself, he's right. So I spent yesterday evening updating our Regional website so that anyone who wants to contact any member of the Regional Party serving on any Regional, State or Federal body can do so. It's still a work in progress, but I will endeavour to publish as much information as I can, as soon as I can.

But it shouldn't stop there. If the East of England can do it, why not all of the English Regions? So, I intend to contact each of my fellow Regional Secretaries, asking them to do the same. It will be interesting to see what the response is...

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