Suiting Themselves: Major parties, electoral databases and privacy
Peter Van Onselen, Wayne Errington · UWA Profiles and Research Repository (University of Western Australia) · 2005
The potential benefits and pitfalls of information technology are on displayin the databases used by Australia’s major political parties.1 The use ofsuch technologies, which contain a host of information about voters andtheir policy preferences, are a potentially useful conduit between citizensand their elected representatives. Instead, their development has beenveiled in secrecy, and their operation puts vast public resources to use forpartisan ends, invades the privacy of constituents seeking help from theirMember of Parliament (MP), and tilts electoral politics further yet towardsthe minority of swinging voters. With reform it is possible to avoid themajor pitfalls associated with the use of electoral databases. However, anumber of aspects of the Australian party system will likely prevent seriousconsideration of the role of databases. Both major parties gain benefit frominformation technology at the expense of minor parties, independents andother challengers. The major political parties will inevitably attempt toskew any new system to their own advantage. The development of electoraldatabases provides a significant example of members of parliament actingas gatekeepers for the rules under which they operate. For legitimatedatabase usage to occur, the privacy of voters needs to be better protected.•Peter van Onselen is a Lecturer in Political Science at Edith Cowan University. He has published inthe Australian Journal of Political Science, the Journal Legislative Studies, and the AustralianJournal of Professional and Applied Ethics.Wayne Errington is a Lecturer in Politics and Communications at Charles Sturt University. He haspublished in the Australian Journal of Political Science, the Australian Journal of Professional andApplied Ethics, and Australian Quarterly.1 The authors have obtained the information contained in this article firstly through previousemployment in MP offices. Both authors saw the operation of party databases first hand in theirparliamentary employment. Such observational study has been supplemented by informationgathered on party databases from operation manuals and through conversations with staffers andMPs alike.