The very strong interest in the ABC's Vote Compass shows Australians remain intensely interested in politics and public policy. But it also tells us a lot about the failure of our political parties to connect with us, writes Mark Triffitt.

More than one million Australians are likely to take part in the Vote Compass online survey in the lead up to July 2 federal election.

That makes Vote Compass - which is tracking voter opinions on key election issues for a second successive federal poll - both a political and internet phenomenon.

Its popularity, however, highlights both good and bad news for Australia's democracy.

There's no shortage of research showing voter trust and engagement in our political system, particularly among young people, has dropped to record lows in recent years.

At face value, this suggests average citizens are turning their backs on politics. But the very strong public response to Vote Compass highlights that Australians remain intensely interested in politics and public policy.

Vote Compass's mass appeal can be attributed in part to its user-friendly design. It takes the average voter around 10 minutes to answer the survey's questions and map their views on key election issues against those of the major parties.

But at the end of the day, it is still an unsolicited survey. There are no prizes for entering. Its ultimate appeal, I believe, is that it gives individual voters badly needed "context".

And that leads us to the bad news for our political system.

The fact that so many Australians are using Vote Compass to locate themselves on the political map underlines how much our major parties are struggling to connect with voters.

In a representative democracy like Australia's, the main rationale for parties is to do exactly that – represent voters by reflecting and advocating their political concerns and interests in an accurate way.

Thirty or so years ago, that was still relatively straightforward.

The political views and opinions of most voters - like their social, geographical and class location - were comparatively much more fixed and stable. The major parties organised their election platforms around clearly differentiated, left-right ideological platforms.

By offering two contrasting poles, the major parties had a powerful tool to attract and connect with the public in a deep and lasting way.

The 21st century world has fundamentally changed this.

Public opinion is now continually shaped and reshaped by avalanches of instant, internet-driven information. Geographical and social mobility means increasing numbers of voters no longer identify in a clear way with the boundaries of socio-economic class.

Australia's two-party system has been one of the most durable in the world. But the ability of our mass political parties to "represent" is deteriorating.

Ninety per cent of Australians identified with the two major parties in the early 1970s but now it is less than three-quarters. Less than a third of voters have much confidence in them. Political party membership across the board is at negligible levels.

These percentages will continue to drop as the world becomes even more fluid and fragmented, and the disconnect between voters and parties grows. This is why sharp poll swings, hung parliaments and one-term governments will become increasingly the norm.

It is also why many Australians who participate in Vote Compass will only know where they stand politically after they have completed the survey.

Many will participate to confirm or calibrate their party allegiance. But many may well discover (to their surprise) their views on policy do not correlate with the party they intended voting for - or that their policy preferences represent a mix of Coalition, Labor and Green.

Which bring us to the ultimate good and bad news for Australian democracy which the public response to Vote Compass highlights.

Yes, Australians remains very interested in politics, even in a world where the traditional, ideological compass points are becoming far less salient.

But their growing distemper with Australian democracy overall suggests the real problem lies with the current delivery system of politics, particularly its substance and style.

Rather than embrace and reflect the complexity and fluidity of their constituencies, parties seems to be retreating behind ever-more scripted policy announcements, orchestrated street walks and focussed-grouped, three-second sound bites.

Our democracy requires new tools to connect and engage with voters and tap the deep well of public interest in politics and policy-making.

Among the multitude of communication possibilities now available in the internet age, Vote Compass is a relatively straightforward exercise.

It simply asks voters to compare their views on policies already formulated by the inner workings of the major parties.

But the response has been unprecedented for an Australia survey (the national census excluded).

Imagine if the public was asked directly by parties what should be on of their policy agenda and why?

Dr Mark Triffitt lectures in politics and public policy at the University of Melbourne. He worked as a press secretary and policy advisor to the Victorian Coalition Government between 1993 and 1997 and is a former Director of Strategic Communications for the Business Council of Australia. He is a Project Consultant to Vote Compass.