The Federal Labor party wants the political leaders to debate on YouTube during the election campaign. The Prime Minister himself, John Howard, leader of the Liberal political party, supports the role that the Internet can hold in the democratic process.  The Prime Minister contends, “the Internet can provide an uninterrupted, open and direct channel between decision makers and voters”.

The entire Australian political class seems to hope that cyber democracy will re-invent the political process. Peter Garrett, a Australian Labor Party leader asserts, “whether we are communicating information and policies to people, or whether we’re hearing back from people at the grassroots level about what their issues and concerns are, the web is going to play a really really critical role”.

The Internet will make the Austrailian political process more democratic and interactive. Voters will be able to converse with candidates through YouTube. Voters will interact directly with politicians by uploading video and text responses on the political parties’ channels on YouTube, and candidates can respond to these videos.  All the political parties have their own dedicated channels on YouTube, and many politicians now have a profile on MySpace and other social networking sites.