GetUp! in Election 2016

Abstract

GetUp! is a unique political organisation in Australian politics. Since their formation in mid-2005, they have accrued over 1 million members and fundraise about $8 million annually in donations from mostly small donors. From the 2010 Australian election onwards, their high level of declared third-party political expenditure to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has placed them among an influential group of traditional Australian interest group organisations of business and unions (see Vromen and Coleman 2011). In 2016, they had their most successful election campaign so far, both in terms of member mobilisation and political impact. Yet, they do not construct themselves as just another insideroriented interest group, but as a mass movement intent on progressive mass mobilisation. Their networked approach to online campaigning uses distinctive rapid response, repertoire switching. Members can pick and choose which campaigns they are active on, and some campaigns have been much more successful than others, ranging from issues such as electoral enrolment reform, abortion law reform, mental health policy, refugee rights, marriage equality, climate change, carbon tax, renewable energy, coal seam gas, higher education fees, Medicare charges and so on. They have also run dedicated national election campaigns in 2007, 2010, 2013, as well as several State election campaigns including the most recent elections in Victoria (VIC) and Queensland (QLD). However, the strategic approach GetUp! took in the 2016 election was a departure from

Watershed: The 2022 Australian Federal Election

“…'s campaign represents a substantial decrease in traditional media coverage since 2016 (when 42 news articles covered GetUp!) and a continuation of the decrease in coverage seen since the 2010 election (115 articles) (Vromen 2018).…”

“…GetUp! has been active in the five subsequent Australian elections (see Vromen 2018) but arguably in 2022 they purposefully kept a lower profile in light of criticism after the 2019 election of their campaign work against 'hard-right politicians' as well as the emergence of new players supporting Independent campaigns on some of their core issues of concern. GetUp!…”

“…In contrast with GetUp!, however, Advance is more likely to use humour and memes to get its messages across, seeming to learn and borrow from GetUp! 's success in negative, meme-driven campaign posts in the 2016 election and earlier (Vromen 2018).…”

“…Third-party campaigns were also underpinned by targeted social media advertising, especially on Facebook. This was not the first election to use these tactics, as they emerged in Australia in 2016 (Vromen 2018), growing out of the email mobilisation of the 2007 election (Vromen 2017), but in 2022 all organisations were using digital tactics and they are now more or less mainstream. The other important influence on the emergence of local groups doing campaign work is the 'Voices For' movement, which is covered in Chapter 14.…”

A party within a party posing as a movement? Momentum as a movement faction

“…This "us versus them" dynamic operates at multiple levels, as Momentum stands in opposition to its ideological adversaries, typically the governing Conservative Party, but also other factions within the Labour Party. The videos shared are instrumental to this strategy, continuing a trend of social movement actors using visual forms of communication to promote a shared vision and direction for the group (Vromen, 2018).…”