Here’s the email I sent to Foreign Minister Downer and his PR guy Chris Kenny on Sunday, March 5, 2006:

Request for Foreign Affairs Minister Downer

So far, I’ve had no response. Feel free to email them as well, asking for a response.

A Melbourne new media entrepreneur has launched a campaign to clean up Australian politics, challenging Federal and State MPs to take a lie detector test – and Federal Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is his first target.

Cameron Reilly, Australia’s leading authority on new media, has thrown the weight of his podcasting company The Podcast Network behind the push.

“Poly the Pollie” was launched in Melbourne today with the aim of inviting Australian MPs to sit a policy-based lie detector test, conducted by Steve Van Aperen, Australian’s leading polygraph expert. Van Aperen is known throughout Australia as an expert in the field of interviewing and detecting deception. He has received extensive training from the world’s leading international investigative authorities in how and why people deceive and has been affectionately named the “Human Lie Detector”.

Reilly said polythepollie.com on The Podcast Network would track responses from MPs and publish results.

“From time to time, we all suspect that politicians may not be telling us the complete truth. In the past, we shrugged our shoulders and accepted that lying was part of politics and that there was little we could do about it. Well now we can,” he said.

“If I have a choice to vote for a politician who is prepared to submit him or herself to a polygraph and one who is not, then I know which one I will be voting for, and I think a lot of people will feel the same way.

”Downer’s admission of knowledge about the Australian Wheat Board’s dealings in Iraq is just one example. It’s time politicians were held accountable for their actions.”

Reilly said he didn’t expect many politicians would agree to sit the test, but that each negative response would also be entered into the polythepollie.com online database, so voters can see who refused to sit the test and who agreed.

”Anyone who refuses to sit the test will have a black mark entered against their name on the website. However, anyone who agrees to sit the test will have the session recorded on video. It will be available for download from the site with an analysis of the results by Van Aperen, enabling the community to use this information before they vote in the next election.”

Reilly said each polygraph would focus firmly on policies and government business and would not include personal matters.

“The questions for any MP will be written as part of a collaborative process. The public can nominate their questions through the website and the final list will be compiled by Van Aperen. The costs associated with each polygraph will be covered by online donations.”

For more information contact:
Cameron Reilly
The Podcast Network
Email: cameronreilly@gmail.com
Mob: +61 400 455334

Gavin Willson
Australian Polygraph Services
1300 365 345
Mob. 0409 829 740