New Zealanders have been given the chance to write their own laws, with a new online tool launched by police.

The “wiki” will allow the public to suggest the wording of a new police act, as part of a government review of the current law, written in 1958.

Police say they hope to gain a range of views from the public on the new law before presenting it to parliament.

The wiki, one of the first of its kind in the world, is open to any internet user, police say.

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Australian eDemocracy, a clearing house for information about the topic, is a collaboration between a number of Australian organisations involved in using Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to bring governments and citizens closer together with each other.

Partners include The National Forum (an NGO promoting democratic uses of the Internet in Australia), Cisco Systems and the Queensland University of Technology.

It features regular posts with information relevant to Australian eDemocracy, including overseas intitiatives and developments. The site is run on the basis of a wiki with contributions being provided by sponsoring organisations.

The aim of the eDemocracy.co.nz research project is to examine the impact of using ICT to facilitate and influence the democratic process in a regional community in New Zealand, namely Waitakere City. Its final aim is to develop a framework for eDemocarcy driven by the needs of citizens.

Specifically, this research intends to:

• Observe and document the processes used within a community for engagement, consultation and development between council, community and businesses and the extent to which this is facilitated and influenced by the use of ICT;
• Identify the normative conditions for engagement and electronic engagement that are required in order to establish an emancipatory framework that could lead to a shift in the locus of power within the context of local (and potentially national) governance;
• Define a typology and vocabulary to describe the role of ICT in the processes of democracy, government and governance within the context of the research. This is required to ensure that the study is grounded in a commonly understood and clearly articulated context.