SOL FAQ

SOL believes in offering Australians the opportunity to develop their own informed opinion on Bills (being presented to Parliament) and issues shaping our nation, and for those opinions to be clearly heard. We believe this can be achieved by:

• Reaching as many people as possible through an easily accessible medium: the Internet;
• Giving Australians access to accurate information and balanced argument on each Bill before Parliament, and the important issues facing our nation;
• Offering people the opportunity to vote on the Bills and important issues concerning them and their wider community;
• Tallying the votes and determining the clear majority voice which will then be SOL’s view for the vote on each Bill;
• Giving the majority voice a chance to be clearly heard in Parliament above that of the vocal minority—not influenced by party politics or by deal doing;
• Encouraging more people to have a greater involvement in our social and political issues;
• Making our Australian political process more progressive;
• Promoting social and environmental change;
• Actively encouraging government accountability when presenting the case for amendments to existing legislation, or proposing new legislation.

The current website is a pre-election website that lays out how Senator Online would work if a SOL senator is elected.

In simple terms, for each Bill or important issue people would have access to accurate information and balanced argument via the SOL website. The SOL website would also include a pros & cons section, expert opinion and analysis, the sitting senator's view, and a public forum. People would register, and after registering and being allocated a user name and password, would be able to cast a vote on each Bill or issue.

Most importantly, there would only be one vote per person on Australia's Commonwealth Electoral Roll. People will be able to change their vote.

When there is a clear majority view, this would then be the party view and would be represented in Parliament, enabling the voice of the majority to be heard over special interest groups.

Every person recorded on Australia's Commonwealth Electoral Roll will be entitled to join SOL as a 'poll member' free. Every poll member has one vote on each Bill or issue. To participate in SOL's voting process, the poll member will need to have access to the Internet.

Every vote will count.

Where there is a clear majority view, which is determined when 100,000 votes have been cast and there is a 70% majority view, this will become the SOL party view. In the event of votes being less than 100,000 or the majority not reaching 70%, a clear majority view may be able to be agreed on by the party. Otherwise the party's view will be to abstain from voting.

Under no circumstances can or will Senator Online's party view be that of the minority view as indicated in the online poll.

SOL senators will commit in writing to vote in accordance with the party view.

SOL senators are required under the SOL constitution, and have undertaken in writing, to vote in accordance with the party's view. The party has been set up to represent the clear majority view. SOL will use online polls to ascertain if there is a clear majority view.

Website security is paramount.

The confidentiality of an individual’s details, together with the integrity of the voting process and its results, are critically important.

All information between the user and the SOL server will be encrypted. All SOL servers will operate under best practice security conditions.

The validity of poll member's identity and the integrity of online voting are paramount to the party.

To help ensure a bona fide process, anyone applying to be a poll member will be required to register on SOL's website.

The poll member registration process will include but will not be limited to:

• Confirming personal details, including date of birth, home address and middle names, against Australia's Commonwealth Electoral Roll;
• There will be further verification of a person’s bona fides. This may be an automated process likely to be similar to the PayPal verification process where the applicant will nominate a bank account in their name. SOL would deposit two amounts between 10 cents and $1.00. The applicant would need to confirm these amounts back to SOL;
• Once a person's bona fides are established they are then issued a user name and password which the poll member must use when voting.

We are also looking at two factor authentication such as 'passwindow'.

SOL will investigate occurrences of common information existing (for example, email contacts, bank accounts, and computer links) where the poll members have different addresses. When an application for poll membership is received and the identity already belongs to an existing member, SOL will investigate the matter. The investigation will include any links to the fraudulent application.

With these procedures in place, SOL is confident that, for each Bill or issue, there will be one vote per person on Australia's Commonwealth Electoral Roll. Further the greater number of people joining SOL the less likelihood of someone fraudulently registering. In fact under the SOL voting method there is arguably less opportunity of fraudulent voting as compared with voting at traditional polling booths, where the identity of the voter is not verified, there is little to stop those who wish to vote early and often.

Over 80% of Australians currently have access to the internet either at home or at work. The percentage is greater when those with access through their local library or educational institution are included. If the issue is important enough, then the party's view should be representative given the portion of people with internet access.

SOL expects that the number of people with access to the internet will continue to grow.

It is important that over the next few elections the SOL objectives and founders stay in place. The constitution provides some powerful protection to ensure the party objectives and executive remain stable for this election and the next.

For instance, the constitution provides that members found to be part of a party stacking exercise may be expelled from the party.

In addition, ordinary member applicants will be required to provide a statutory declaration setting out their current and/or former association with any organised groups.

There are primarily two types of members.

The first is a poll member. Persons registered on Australia’s Commonwealth Electoral Roll are eligible to apply for SOL poll membership and can vote on all Bills and issues. There are no membership fees in being a poll member.

The second type of membership has three categories. They are the foundation, ordinary and senior memberships. These members can vote at SOL party meetings. Voting will occur mainly when there are changes to the SOL constitution or when there is a change on the SOL executive. These members can not be members of any other political party.

No. SOL will not give an individual's details to any other person or organisation. SOL will only contact a member when requested or if appropriate.

SOL is and will remain a not-for-profit organisation. Any revenue generated from the website or other sources will be used primarily to pay for independent research on Bills and issues. Revenue will also be used to pay for party administration costs.

Currently, SOL executives are not remunerated.

Depending on their time commitments, remuneration may be paid to executives in the future. If remuneration is paid to executives, it will be:

• Limited to an equivalent time portion of a federal senator's remuneration;
• Approved unanimously by the SOL executive;
• Disclosed in the annual audited accounts.

Yes. The make-up of the Upper House of Parliament will not change until 1st July after the election. The time lag between an election and the first sitting date in July should allow enough time for the post-election website to be in place.

At the upcoming federal election, all persons on Australia's Commonwealth Electoral Roll will be required to vote twice on Election Day.

Once for the House of Representatives (the Lower House )and once for the Senate ( the Upper House).

Australia is divided into 150 electoral divisions, each with between 20,000 and 70,000 voters. From each of these divisions voters elect a person (commonly referred to as their "local member") to represent them in Parliament in the House of Representatives.

The Senate is made up of 76 senators, 12 from each state and two from each territory.

SOL will only be running candidates for the Senate.

Each proposed change to federal laws or proposed new laws are presented to Parliament and are referred to as a 'Bill'. The Bill will generally be first passed by a majority of members in the House of Representatives, and if it is passed here it will then be presented to the Senate. If passed by a majority of senators in the House of Representatives the Bill is enacted and the laws are changed.

As such, SOL senators will be able to clearly express the majority view on each Bill that is presented to Parliament.

No. Senator Online is independent.

Berge Der Sarkissian (www.bergedersarkissian.com.au) has provided the original concept and initial funding of the party. Senator Online is supported by an executive committee and has in excess of 500 foundation members.

Senator Online's constitution provides powerful protection to ensure the party remains independent.

The Senate's main function is to be the house of review. Bills are normally presented to the House of Representatives and passed there before going to the Senate. This will generally allow the public more time to consider each Bill.

However, in many instances senators simply follow party lines rather than carry out a robust review.

In the event that the public may not like a particular policy of a party they support, or are concerned about the introduction or change of policy they might be unhappy with, a way people can protect themselves is to have a SOL senator in the Senate— a party without any specific policies, but with the commitment that the majority view will be heard in Parliament.

If a Bill is of such National importance that it needs be passed quickly, the government with the support of the Opposition, will have no problems in passing such Bills. However, there are very few Bills that are truly urgent and need be passed without lengthy consideration.

The Senate is supposed to be the house of review. The Senate Rule, Standing order 111, dictates that a Bill introduced in one period of sitting should not be passed to the next house until the next sitting. The principle behind this is that Bills should "sit" on the table so the senators have time to consider them properly.

The facts are:

• The Senate dictates (by majority vote it can put aside Standing Order 111) how quickly a Bill passes;
• So when the majority Senate seats are held by one party, Bills can be pushed through the Senate at the pace the government dictates, without reference to any other senator.

As such, there are broadly two situations that will develop:

Firstly, when a party has in its own right or in combination with another party, the majority of Senate seats. In this case, they can (and do) push Bills through without reference to other parties. The only influence to majority party senators is that of significant public opinion. Senator Online would be a very "pointed" amalgamation of public opinion that the senators of the majority party would have difficulty ignoring.

Secondly, is when a minority party has the balance of power in the Senate, and in effect that party determines the timing of the passage of the Bill. If that party needed more time to consider the Bill or determine what its constituency thought, it would get that time and Bills would be dealt with in a more deliberate and considered manor.

The very vast majority of Bills would, or should, be dealt in the normal manner; the Lower House and then the Upper House both having three readings.

In these cases Senator Online would work well.

If it was an urgent Bill or a late significant and urgent change, there would either be a bipartisan agreement between the two major parties and Senator Online's input would not be needed, or if there was a deadlock, then Senator Online could be used to both deliver and receive information quickly, and so votes would be almost instantaneous.

The Bills Digest is a document produced on every Bill by the federal library, providing background information, a summary of provisions, and gives commentary on the reaction of various groups.

The Digest is produced so that people (mainly used by senators) can be informed about each Bill.

This type of information, plus expert opinions and public forums, is what would be available on the Senator Online web site.

It is important that Bills are not rushed through (unless truly urgent).

Even when a party has control of the Senate (i.e. is able to have Standing Order 111 struck out and push a Bill through), sufficient time should be given such that public opinion is allowed to be considered by those in control of the Senate.

Senator Online would recommend procedural changes to the Senate such that a more deliberate and considered approach to the passage of Bills occurred.

For example, we would recommend that Standing Order 111 be struck out if 75% (as opposed to the current requirement of 51%) of senators agreed.