PRESSURE GROUPS

References:

Willmott & Dowse Chapter 8Spindler & Milnes Chapter 5

PRESSURE GROUPS DEFINED

What are pressure groups?

Organisations that have relatively narrow aims and seek to influence public policy.

They differ from political parties in that they do not seek direct election to parliament – rather they exert “pressure” on members of parliament or the executive to achieve their narrow aims.

DEFINITION cont’d

They differ from interest groups.

Interest groups are groups of citizens who associate together because of a common interest, such as…

Sports clubs, hobby clubs, pensioner groups, theatre groups etc.

Interest groups do not seek to influence public policy.

TYPES OF PRESSURE GROUPS

SECTIONAL PRESSURE GROUPS

These groups represent the interests of a particular section of society and seek to influence policy in favour of that group.

• Business Council of Australia

• Trade Unions

TYPES OF PRESSURE GROUPS

PROMOTIONAL/ALTRUISTIC PRESSURE GROUPS

These groups try to advance a cause they believe is in the interest of the whole of society.

• Australian Conservation Foundation• Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy

TYPES OF PRESSURE GROUPS

HYBRID PRESSURE GROUPS

Some groups exhibit characteristics of both types – they promote values they believe are in the interest of the wider community AND they seek better outcomes for one section of society.

• The Returned Services League (defence / ex service personnel)

• Australian Medical Association (health / doctors)

FEATURES OF PRESSURE GROUPS

Sectional Groups:

Insiders: they have direct access to those in power.Closed membership: only the section of society being

represented are be members.Selective Benefits: only seek benefit for the section of

society represented.Resource rich: tend to well funded via membership fees.Professional staff: employ permanent trained staff.Organisation is hierarchical: tend to mirror corporate or

government models of organisation - bureaucracy

FEATURES OF PRESSURE GROUPS

Promotional Groups:

Outsiders: they lack direct access to those in power.Open membership: any interested and motivated person

can join.Collective Benefits: seek benefit for broad communityResource poor: tend to lack reliable funding via, relying on

donations and government grants.Small core staff & many volunteers: may employ small

permanent trained staff and rely on volunteers for most labour.

Organisation is democratic: tend to have a central “umbrella” organisation and equal rank members

DIRECT COMPARISONSECTIONAL

Insiders: they have direct access to those in power.

Closed membership: only the section of society being represented are be members.

Selective Benefits: only seek benefit for the section of society represented.

Resource rich: tend to well funded via membership fees.

Professional staff: employ permanent trained staff.

Organisation is hierarchical: tend to mirror corporate or government models of organisation - bureaucracy

PROMOTIONALOutsiders: they lack direct access to

those in power.Open membership: any interested

and motivated person can join.Collective Benefits: seek benefit for

broad communityResource poor: tend to lack reliable

funding via, relying on donations and government grants.

Small core staff & many volunteers: may employ small permanent trained staff and rely on volunteers for most labour.

Organisation is democratic: tend to have a central “umbrella” organisation and equal rank members

SECTIONAL GROUP STRATEGIES

Direct lobbying: importance of business etc to the economy means that sectional groups often have direct access to government. “Peak bodies” (related pressure groups create these) maintain offices in Canberra.

Employment of professional lobbyists: sometimes ex ministers or senior public servants, who can use their contacts to aid the group, are engaged. See next slide.

Brian Burke and Julian Grill are prominent WA example and illustrates the problems with lobbyists and democratic transparency.

Advertising: via media. The resources of sectional groups permit expensive advertising.

“Cash for Comments”: Banks paid John Laws and Alan Jones for favourable commentary on their talkback radio shows.

Former Ministers who became Lobbyists

• John Fahey—former NSW Premier and Federal Finance Minister—lobbied for J P Morgan

• Peter Reith—former Industrial Relation & Defence Minister—lobbied for multinational defence contractor Tenix

• Michael Wooldridge—former Health Minister now—lobbying of the Royal College of General Practitioners (doctors)

• Richard Alston—former Minister for Communications—lobbied for Austereo, owners of Triple M and 2Day FM

• Warwick Parer—former Energy Minister—lobbied for the energy industry

PROMOTIONAL GROUP STRATEGIES

Direct action: letter campaigns, petitions, public rallies, sit-ins, protests etc. These can be achieved with limited resources and voluntary labour and attract media coverage. The media is “oxygen” to promotional groups. They aim to maximise exposure of their cause.

Single issue focus: Limited resources are concentrated on a narrow effort. “Euthanasia No” formed to influence the debate on the Euthanasia Laws Act 1998.

USE OF LEGAL CHALLENGES

Increasingly both types of groups use legal challenges to pressure government.

Court challenges to the legality of government action are conducted with that aim of declaring some actions ultra vires.

Groups opposed to duck shooting used the ACT TV (1992) and Theophanous (1994) precedents in the High Court to successfully challenge gov’t regulations that restricted access to shooting areas. Levy v the State of Victoria found that such restrictions prevented their right to protest – and thus their freedom of speech, but did not extend as far as preventing duck shooters from shooting.

INFLUENCES ON PRESSURE GROUP SUCCESS

• Leadership: good leaders or high profile figureheads. Peter Garratt as head of ACF.

• Size of membership and involvement of the community.

• Level of professionalism.• Resources.• The importance of the group’s constituency –

business groups succeed because the economy is important, groups promoting recreational fishing rights have less success because fishing is not important to many people or government.

INDIVIDUAL ACTIONGenerally individuals have less success pressuring government

because they lack resources, organisation, public clout etc etc.

However, some have had great success…

Hetty Johnston’s campaigns for action against paedophiles eventually caused the resignation of Governor General Peter Hollingworth (who, when he was archbishop of Brisbane, failed to deal with allegations against priests)

Tim Winton successfully campaigned against development at Ningaloo.

Sir Gustav Nossal (scientist) and Sir Ronald Wilson (former High Court judge) have highlighted Aboriginal Reconciliation