A Study on the Strategic Changes in Australian Lobbying Industry Since the 1970’s

Abstract

Despite the criticisms of lobbyists as a parasitical growth on the business of government, exploiting public ignorance or reticence about the best ways to make approaches and put particular cases to political agenda, with the changes in policy advocacy environment, lobbyists have now gained wide acceptance in Australia as a legitimate and necessary channel of communication between the executive government and the community. While organized special interests are not new in Australian politics, the last decades of the 20th century has witnessed dramatic changes in the lobbying industry in several important aspects, including the emergence of single-issue groups, the shift to research-based lobbying and the changes in lobbying strategies. This paper argues that the most extraordinary change in Australian lobbying industry seems to be that lobbying has moved from the corridors and backrooms of the Parliament to become a 'public affair'.