Parliament discord trial
As part of the growing effort to make Parliament more accessible to all WolvHaveners, we are trialing a “hard transformation” approach to revolutionize the way parliament works.
The trial from the 16 to 22 June 2019 will see parliamentary debates shifted to the WolvHaven Discord.
Trial Details
Discord channels for each item of business have been created. They are:
- #19203-pr-referendum for the Permanent Residency (Referendum) Bill
- #19205-aaip for the AAIP Bill
- #19207-gard-alliance for the Gardellia Alliances Bill
- #19208-tpa-reform for the Teleportation Permissions Reform Bill
The content of the channels may be read by anyone. However, only Verified members may speak in the channels.
All the text channels have a slow mode period of 5 minutes to ensure that the channels do not get flooded and to ensure that debate remains orderly.
All speeches made within the channels are binding – this means they will be included in the official Hansard for the session on 22 June 2019. A physical in-game session will still be held on the 22 June 2019.
Votes and proceedings (such as amendments) within the channels are binding. However, only votes by MPs are to be considered. This excludes votes on whether bills are to be passed or not; which will be conducted during the physical session on 22 June 2019.
Under the new Discord Parliament Arrangement
- All verified citizens may speak in the relevant bill channels
- Votes by elected MPs will only be considered
- A Speaker / Deputy Speaker will continue to ensure debate remains on-topic and administer the votes and proceedings
Why the change?
As part of the Greater WolvHaven Transformation 2020, the Green paper on Making Parliament more accessible to all WolvHaveners was released.
The declining attendance coupled with the low number of political parties contesting in elections because of all their members “being unable to attend Parliament at the stipulated timings” meant that Parliament in its current form was no longer performing its role of effectively representing public opinion and views.
While a hybrid solution involving a mix of physical in-game sessions and discord voting/debate continuation was widely preferred, the implementation of such a system would be too taxing on existing manpower and could further complicate matters.
The new hard-line approach to transform parliament involves getting rid of physical in-game sessions entirely; apart from ceremonial purposes – effectively allowing debate to go on at all times of the week while the bill is in the consideration stages.
It will also allow more WolvHaveners to contribute to the debate and have a say on the issues that matter to them the most.
Moving forward
Parliament will have a vote to adopt this new system. Lessons learnt from this trial will go on to shape our future political and parliamentary system – something that remains truly dear & unique to WolvHaven.
