Australia is a democratic country. But democracy is all about inclusion of the people, about giving the public the right to be informed to make a decision. So it annoys me a little bit when politicians sit us on the sidelines while they do their work, then expect us to believe them when they tell us what’s going on.

It’s the backroom, behind closed doors deals which are done and then we’re all spun some line on went on.

Gillard and Abbott are playing their games right now, trying to woo these independents who’ve suddenly become rather powerful. The Prime Minister said that transparency is going to be important, despite the fact that negotiations are going to be held in private, with “regular updates to the public”.

The Independents keep telling us a hung parliament is good for democracy. That will change the way politics is conducted because it will be more open, transparent and with more checks and balances.

So what is the first thing they do? They go in to secret, behind closed doors negotiations with the major parties to determine who they will make King (or queen).

Well I don’t think that’s good enough to be honest. If they want transparency, why not conduct these secret meetings and negotiations out in the open for all to see? Why not take on a Senate Committee hearing-style meeting where the public can be witness to what is happening. After all, the parties are theoretically supposed to be representing us, working for us. If you were the boss of a big company, wouldn’t you want to be in the meeting where your employees are deciding the fate of your organisation?

The reason is that they don’t want us to know what sort of deals are going on. This is the murky side of politics, where it really becomes a complicated game for strategists to maneuver. It’s like Labor’s preference deal with the Greens. They remain adamant that there were no compromises, negotiations or promises made in exchange for the Greens’ preference. But seriously, how are we supposed to be believe that? Next they’ll be telling us pigs can fly.

The reality is that over the next few weeks Gillard and Abbott are going to have to make some promises that they don’t necessarily want us to know about. Of course they will, because they’re trying to recruit people to their team who have different political agendas, different values and ideological stances. That’s why they’re independent. And what’s more, they know they have the power to make some demands.

I can’t help feeling like we’ve been left in the grandstand while our political teams battle it out on the field, only inviting us in to the huddle after each period. We should be out on the field amongst the action, knowing what’s happening rather than relying on the carefully constructed “reports” they give us. I call for public negotiations in these shady few weeks. Who’s with me?