Who
We're an independent and nonpartisan tech startup.
We're nonprofit and registered as an Australian charity*.
What
We do three things:
(1)
a secure voting app
that makes your voice
heard in real-time
(2)
a resource to learn and
engage with the issues
that matter to you
(3)
a community
engagement platform
for any organisation
Why
We're concerned about the large and growing disconnect between everyday Australians, our politicians and government decision making.
Confidence in our political system is at an all time low. At no time in Australia's recorded history has there been such low levels of trust in government and the media, low confidence in democracy and low voter turnout at elections.
We think the problem is that there is a barrier that blocks everyday Australians from engaging easily and directly with their representatives.
Democracy has not kept up with the digital age.
Purpose
Our purpose is to advance education and enhance democracy.
Vision
Our vision is for everyday people to directly engage with and shape political discourse, idea formation and decision making on issues that matter to them.
A democracy that is embraced and celebrated by politicians, decision makers and everyday people alike.
Mission
Our mission is to break down the barriers that impede everyday people from directly engaging in political discourse, idea formation and decision making.
We do this by providing a digital platform that invites, encourages and inspires all people to pool their collective knowledge, skills and insights to engage, contribute to and shape our future.
How
A secure real-time voting app with a resource to learn and engage with the issues directly will be a powerful tool for the crowd sourcing of ideas.
Combined with citizen juries, to get balanced information, the NewVote model rewards politicians that make decisions (accountable, transparent and representative).
Our theory of change:
(1)
a secure voting app
that makes your voice
heard in real-time
The app is accessible on any smartphone, tablet or desktop and is simple to navigate.
The app has 3 parts: Issues, Goals and Solutions.
- Issues are the problems that need to be solved
- Goals are statements of ideals, values or outcomes that will resolve the issues.
- Solutions are the concrete actions that can be taken now, the steps to reach our goals.
We’re about policy, not party.
Our platform bridges the gap between an informed public on the one hand and decision makers on the other.
You vote directly on the Goals and Solutions to address Issues.
(2)
a resource to learn
and engage with the issues
that matter to you
We are democratic infrastructure, providing many ways to engage.
We provide a dedicated public record of every political Issue facing Australia, along with potential Goals and Solutions.
For each Issue, Goal and Solution you can:
- Access wiki-sourced factual and balanced information
- Co-create by posting a potential Issue, Goal and/or Solution.
- Dig deeper with crowd-sourced links to third party media resources
- Review endorsements made by stakeholders such as nonprofits and institutes
- Discuss it all online, in an open, safe and respectful environment
- Attend related events in the real world
- Action it by following through on crowd-sourced links
Further, we use citizen juries. A citizen jury is a collection of ordinary people from the community, randomly selected to fit the demographics of gender, age and location.
Citizen juries meet in person over several days and learn from independent experts, proponents and opponents of ideas and produce a very short summary of their key findings, best arguments for and against, discussion maps and their vote.
They are the best way to obtain balanced evidence-based information available today and that is why we use them on the highest level issues that make it through the platform.
We also provide information about Australian democracy through our Learning Centre.
(3)
a community
engagement platform
for any organisation
Organisations thrive when they approach their communications holistically, recognising the empowered digital citizen and online communities.
We understand that it is hard for organisations to find the right strategic direction to engage with their communities in the digital space. Some organisations fear change and are rightly wary of some of its risks.
However, those organisation which passionately adopt new media and digital engagement will be best placed to leverage their brand, positively interact with their community and achieve lasting change.
NewVote partners with selected clients to provide and facilitate an online engagement platform that results in empowerment of community members and high value change.
Our focused, compassionate approach to training and consulting echoes our driving passion to increase engagement.
We thrive on delivering timely reporting of insights into multidimensional issues.
NewVote Hubs is available to any organisation of any size for their internal decision making process.
This funds NewVote so we are financially sustainable.
*NewVote is a registered business name of Politick Ltd, a registered charity.