Labour is experimenting with crowdsourcing policy development, with a new project called OpenLabour. Policy ideas will be floated on Red Alert, with feedback through the comments. The result will be "a key input for Labour to consider in developing its policy". How seriously it will be taken depends on how good it is. Which points out an obvious vulnerability right there: right-wing trolls engaging in their usual disruption and sabotage could easily make this a waste of time for everyone involved.
The first topic will be open and transparent government. There's already a Law Commission review into the primary vehicle for this, the OIA, but there are other areas that could be discussed (and there's no reason why we should all be slaves to Geoffrey Palmer's views). And its not the sort of topic that energizes the trolls in the way that, say, any discussion of social equality or human rights does.
Despite the risk of failure, this is a worthwhile experiment in engaging people in politics, and more parties should do it.
