Senator Lundy Elected Honorary Membership of Australian Computer Society

Senator Kate Lundy was awarded Honorary Member of Australian Computer Society in recognition for her advocacy of the Internet, Gov 2.0, open source and ICT innovation on 15 September 2011. This honor is well deserved, with Senator Lundy working on the application of IT for community benefit and on introducing her fellow parliamentarians to the technology, since election in 1966. Even before this the Senator worked on community and non-profit IT use, as we discussed over lunch, I interviewed the then Senate candidate, over lunch on a sunny spring day in September 1995.

One of the Senator's most important achievements is the "Public Sphere" events have directly lead to the adoption of on-line processes for public consultation by the Australian Government. The first of the "Public Sphere" processes, which blends face to face with on-line processes for consultation on public policy.m The first Public Sphere on High Speed Broadband, was run at the ANU, in conjunction with the School of Computer Science, 7 May 2009.

Public Sphere 2: Government 2.0 lead to the creation of a Government 2.0 Task Force and reforms to Australian Government processes, including the introduction of open access to government information.

Public Sphere 3 is on the topic "Digital Culture", with a Live Event 6 October 2011, in Sydney and on-line.

What is less well know is the Senator's role on Parliamentary committees introducing IT to the committee processes and the members offices.

Senator Lundy also received the International e-Democracy Award 2010.