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You type, we listen. Jersey States are often accused of not listening to the electorate, but now it seems that if the approach is made online, that all has to change.
Yesterday, States Members agreed unanimously in a foot-stomping 47-0 result that the current 'paper-based' government petition system should be updated to allow Jersey residents to lobby the States about issues online instead.
Brought by the Assistant Minister for eGov – the initiative to push more government services online – Deputy Scott Wickenden, the proposal mirrors the UK’s largely successful petitioning system, which has successfully led to public-prompted House of Commons debates on issues ranging from a second Brexit referendum to President Trump’s visit to the UK.
Such a system could see improved levels of engagement with the public, and even get younger generations interested in the political sphere if the age of signing is set below the current voting age of 16.
The proposal won the immediate support of a number of States members including Deputy Jeremy Maçon and the Connétable of St Clement, Le Norman, who spoke in favour of the scheme, and who chairs the committee in charge of States procedures.
Senator Sarah Ferguson, meanwhile, sought assurance that the plans would not eradicate paper petitionining – a preferred method for the Island’s older generations – which was duly accepted by Deputy Wickenden.
Pictured: States petitions must currently take the format of the above example, before being presented to the States Greffier, but now islanders are to be presented with a simpler online option following the adoption of Deputy Wickenden's proposal.
He added that the system would be easy to implement, given that the UK Government’s current system is provided in open source format, meaning that other jurisdictions can use their digital building blocks free of charge, but stressed that time and effort would have to be taken over the “thresholds” necessary for islanders to start and sign petitions. These would seek to ensure that those signing are resident in Jersey, potentially taking the form of a unique government ‘digital ID’ or a log-in system connected with Facebook.
Work on these thresholds, which could cost between £10,000 and £20,000, will be undertaken by the Privileges and Procedures Committee who will draft the law regarding what information will be required to sign and how many signatures will be necessary to trigger a States debate.
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