ABSTRACT
In Australia, witnesses are vital to the operation of the Parliament and its committees. The committee proceedings are rarely adversarial or partisan and most meetings are open to the press and the public. For a committee to have enough information to counterbalance the artillery of public servants with thick briefing books, committees must call a wide variety of public experts. The citizen on the street who may not be an expert on that particular subject but has life experience and an opinion on the matter, is a logical committee witness. Being a taxpayer and voter, the opinion of the citizen is vital to an open democracy.
