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Who does what? Civil society organisations and federal election campaigns
What civil society organisations (CSOs) do during election campaigns depends on a lot of different factors. CSOs are typically not-for-profit, for-purpose, non-government organisations – basically we’re talking about non-market and non-state organisations (though of course those lines can get blurry, as can any theoretical categorisation). In this article, I’m going to explore some of the…
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The Truth is Out There – Civil Society Supporter Emails in the Federal Election
When Ariadne Vromen and I started talking about researching civil society organisation activity in the 2025 federal election, one of the methods of analysis that I wanted to add (from what she and Serin Loane had done in 2022) was the supporter emails these organisations send. In my mind, CSOs use emails as a key…
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Civil society campaigning in the Federal Election – Week 1 Meta Ad Spending
Having looked at YouTube activity over the weekend, I was keen to dig into what was the civil society organisations (CSOs) we are following were doing on other social media. The META Ad Library publishes information about pages that pay for advertising about ‘social issues, elections or politics’. It’s not the most open or transparent…
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Advance’s Week 1 YouTube Assault – Civil society campaigning in the 2025 Federal Election
As mentioned last week, I’m following various civil society / third sector campaigns during the 2025 Australian Federal election campaign, part of some research with Ariadne Vromen. One of the places we’re tracking activity is one YouTube. In 2024, YouTube claimed over 20 million users in Australia, was the second highest social media app used…
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Civil society campaigning in the 2025 Federal Election – Day 1
So, this election, I’m following civil society / third party campaigns, for some research with colleagues Ariadne Vromen and Anne Nielsen. We’ll be observing various of their activities – their media appearances, social media activity (Facebook, Insta, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn) and also the emails they send to their supporter lists. The aim is to understand…
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New Publication: Loci of Power and Connection framework
This post contains the content of a X/Twitter thread that I posted to spruik the publication of my first solo-authored journal publication. ‘The Loci of Power and Connection (LOPAC): a framework for exploring the democratic relationships of civil society organisations’ (CSOs) The article is available free online here The twitter thread is here. Or keep…
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A Tale of Two Political Engagement Toolkits
Back in 2015, I worked with the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) to produce a Political Engagement Toolkit for Community Radio Broadcasters. It consisted of a 24-page report and six factsheets designed to support CBAA’s member organisations – over 300 community broadcasters across the country – to plan and implement their interactions with politicians…
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Community Campaigning can Trump Populism [article]
Originally Published by ABC Religion and Ethics, 26 May 2022. “This was not your typical election outcome. The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is forming government with the lowest primary vote in history. The moderate men of the Liberal Party were wiped out in urban areas by moderate liberal women. Populists Clive Palmer and Pauline Hanson…
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Every corner of the multiverse
When I say “science fiction”, some people may think of socially awkward boys with pale skin, Hollywood blockbusters where characterisation is sacrificed for special effects, or pure escapism that ignores the grim realities of the world we live in. Personally, I go for the intersection of philosophy, politics and popular culture. Like the dystopian critique…