Question 1

Which countries does Backbench cover?

Accepted Answer

Backbench covers federal politics in Australia and the United States. Australian coverage tracks the Federal Register of Legislation, Hansard, the ACCC, ASIC and your state and local councils. U.S. coverage tracks Congress.gov, the Federal Register, FEC disclosures and — where your profile flags it — your state legislature and city council. The plan is one product, not one country at a time.

Question 2

Who actually owns the data Backbench collects?

Accepted Answer

You do. Your profile (interests, postcode or ZIP, MP or representative) and reading history stay on your account and are never sold. The legislative and regulator sources we monitor are public records — the AI summaries we attach to them are yours to read, share, or delete.

Question 3

Is this for lobbyists and government relations teams?

Accepted Answer

No. Backbench is built for residents who don’t live and breathe Hansard or a Capitol Hill hearing. The same agencies spend thousands a month on feeds built for paid clients — Backbench is the consumer-grade version, tuned for a parent, a renter, a small-business owner, not a consultancy.

Question 4

How do you decide which bills actually affect me?

Accepted Answer

Your profile combines your postcode (or ZIP), the topics you opt into (housing, energy, childcare, superannuation, healthcare, …) and the kind of decisions you’ve flagged as “important”. The feed scores each new bill or regulator release against that profile and surfaces a short list, ranked, with the plain-English reason it scored the way it did.

Question 5

What are the reply templates?

Accepted Answer

For each surfaced bill, Backbench drafts a short, polite letter addressed to your federal MP, state member, U.S. representative or local councillor — whichever the bill belongs to. The draft cites the actual bill by name, references the clauses that matter to your situation, and stays inside the tone of normal constituent correspondence. You edit it before sending — we never send anything on your behalf.

Question 6

Will it work on a phone?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The digest is designed to be read in a 90-second coffee break, and the reply templates open ready-edited in your mail app. There is no separate login to remember — you sign in with the same single tap most banks use.

Question 7

How much will it cost?

Accepted Answer

Backbench is one dollar per month, shown in the currency of your region — Australian dollars for residents of Australia, U.S. dollars for residents of the United States. Early-bird waitlist subscribers keep that price after launch. No per-bill or per-seat add-ons.

Every published Backbench digest, in one searchable list.