The Labour Party has started the difficult process of differentiating itself from other political parties with a public outing on Saturday of the new open policy process.
Dunedin South MP Clare Curran addressed about 50 party members at the southern regional conference, in Dunedin, on the process which is long on the use of technology, openness and transparency.
The policy gave the public a say in how some Labour Party policy would be developed, she told the Otago Daily Times.
"One of the most important things we can do is become more open and transparent and be seen to do so in a credible way."
The first test would be in developing a policy on open and transparent government.
Labour was using its Red Alert blog, as well as inviting the public to contribute through social networking sites such as Twitter.
"We are asking people to contribute in any way they can."
In four or five weeks, the party would hold a workshop in Wellington, which would hopefully be attended by Australian champion of open government, Senator Kate Lundy, Ms Curran said.
The workshop would be streamed live, making it accessible to whoever wanted to contribute.
The aim of the policy was to break down the cynicism in the community towards politicians.
People believed they could not have a role in the political process but Labour was determined they could, she said.
But if Labour already had a long-proven system of branch remits eventually making their way to the party's national policy body and, sometimes, into party policy, why did it need the new open policy process?
Ms Curran said she had made it clear there was no way the party could develop all of its policy on the open policy platform but there were some issues where Labour could show people they had some input into the development of policy.
She agreed that it could encourage people to contribute without becoming party members, but Labour also had to prove it was not so protective of how it reached its decisions.
"We will make it clear that if they contribute, they can see how we have gone about forming the policy. They will be kept in touch with the process every step of the way. If they want to come and join the party and take part in the debates that form another part of the process, they can."
Among the debates held at the conference was one about how the party would form its sustainability policy, bringing together the economic and environmental parts of the economy, Ms Curran said.
