Digital campaigning and the getup effect in Australia’s 2016 election

GetUp is a unique political organisation in Australian politics. Since their formation in mid-2005 they have accrued over 1,000,000 members, and fundraise about $8 million annually, from mostly small donations. In 2016 they had their most successful election campaign so far, writes Ariadne Vromen, in terms of both member mobilisation and political impact

The effects of narratives and popularity cues on signing online petitions in two advanced democracies

Online petitions have become a widespread vehicle for contemporary political participation. While research tends to focus on individual factors for potential petitioners that influence signing, less attention has been paid to the influence of the actual text of petitions. This paper uses data from an original web-based survey experiment in Australia and Germany to test the influence of content factors: narratives (i.e., stories based on individual experiences and emotions) and popularity cues (i.e., high numbers of signatures) across two issues: climate change and welfare policy. We find that narratives within petition texts involve readers through the mechanism of transportation and motivate them to sign petitions, as do popularity cues. The effects of narratives were found across both countries but tended to be stronger in Germany than in Australia. We argue that our novel framework can be used for future research on how the presentation of issues shape contemporary political participation

Women and the Future of Work: Report 1 of The Australian Women’s Working Futures Project

This publication reports the findings from a combined quantitative and qualitative study of Australian working women, aged under 40. It draws together four separate data sources: a nationally representative online survey of (n=2,109) working women under 40; a smaller comparative survey of (n=502) working men under 40; additional boosted survey sample among (n=53) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander working women aged under 40; and the findings from five focus groups of (n=41) working women under 40. Quantitative fieldwork was conducted between September and October, while qualitative fieldwork was conducted in November 2017. At the time of being surveyed: over half of the women in the sample (55%) were working full-time or part-time for an employer, a fifth (19%) were working on a casual, freelance or short-term contract basis and 6% were self-employed. Half of the women (55%) were working in the private sector, 28% in the public sector and 6% for not-for-profit organisations. Over half (56%) were working in four industry sectors: retail trade, healthcare and social assistance, education and training, and accommodation and food services. A sample profile is included at the end of the Methodology section (Section 2)

Digital Rights in Asia: Rethinking Regional and International Agenda

In this chapter we explore the appropriate conception and agenda for digital rights and associated governance in Asia. We do so from the perspective of an Australian location in the Asian region, and informed by interdisciplinary research on digital rights. Our starting point is a dissatisfaction with the framing, assumptions, and norms of digital rights globally. At the risk of simplification, we will argue that the dominant ways of framing digital rights and governance continue to be modelled on a limited repertoire of Western experiences and concepts of digital technology, rights, and freedom. digital rights are often left off the agenda in the discussion of digital transformations, especially the highly visible, mainstream, official, and authorized discussions. Such theoretical, empirical, comparative, and cross-sectoral work is urgently needed, not least because questions of digital rights and governance are moving beyond earlier, if still pressing issues of freedom of expression to a wider range of privacy, data justice, labour rights, communication rights, governance, and democratization issues, posed by the new platforms (such as sharing and caring economy). Not only are such new Asian and inter-Asia theorisations and practices of rights and governance important in this region (especially for countries such as Australia), but they stand to help us rethink and confront the impasses and political and conceptual problems with dominant global digital rights thinking. In turn, this project of reimagining and mainstreaming digital rights conceptions, practices, and norms makes a powerful contribution to advancing key issues and challenges arising in contemporary Asia. The expansion of digital transactions across Asia requires more comprehensive and considered rights frameworks to guarantee social justice, citizenship and political participation, as well the economic benefits of the many initiatives underway. Otherwise the danger is that digital transformations can hinder rather than advance social progress.University of Sydney Sydney Research Excellence Initiativ

Politicians, Celebrities and Social Media : A case of informalization?

With electoral politics no longer organised by social class, politicians increasingly seek to relate to a broad spectrum of citizens and part of their relatability is conjured through more casual, informal performances aimed at cultivating authenticity. The various platforms of social media promote forms of authentic communication by blurring the public/private divide, creating ‘spontaneous’ and instant access to ‘real life’. This article seeks to investigate the informalization thesis (Wouters, 2007) by applying it to data from young people aged 16-21 years in Australia, the UK and the USA asked about the way politicians and celebrities use social media. Findings reveal respondents’ desire for more authentic and accessible politicians, but this was in direct tension with traditional views and expectations of politicians needing to be professional, informed and worthy of respect. Informalization amongst politicians is evident and welcomed by young citizens but persistent traditional views means it also threatens their credibility

Digital Rights in Australia

Australians are some of the world’s greatest users of social media and mobile broadband, and our nation is in the top ten globally for internet use. At a time when our use of these technologies is increasingly redefining aspects of our personal and professional lives, Digital Rights in Australia explores urgent questions about the nature of our rights now and into the future. The analysis covers rights issues in four areas: privacy, profiling and analytics; government data-matching and surveillance; workplace change; and freedom of expression and speech regulation. It explores the ethical and legal challenges we face in using digital, networked technologies and the debates we are having about how to best manage their transformative impacts. Crucially this study examines the major role of private, transnational digital platforms in reshaping the way we work, study and conduct business, our interactions with government and with each other. The program of research which generated the Digital Rights in Australia report has three aims: • to assess the evolving citizen uses of digital platforms, and associated digital rights and responsibilities in Australia and Asia, identifying key dynamics and issues of voice, participation, marginalisation and exclusion; • to develop a framework for establishing the rights and legitimate expectations which platform stakeholders––particularly everyday users––should enjoy and the responsibilities they may bear; • to identify the best models for governance arrangements for digital platforms and for using these environments as social resources in political, social and cultural change. This report draws on three sources of data: a national survey of the attitudes and opinions of 1600 Australians on key rights issues; focus group discussion of related rights scenarios; and analysis of legal, policy and governance issues, illustrated by case studies. The core findings are grouped in chapter order.University of Sydney Sydney Research Excellence Initiative (SREI)

Gender Equality and the Future of the Legal Profession

The legal profession is undergoing profound transformation, driven by new technologies and forms of legal service delivery that are upending the traditional organisation of legal work. These changes are disrupting career pathways and requiring lawyers to rethink the skills that will be required for future success. These changes are also occurring against a backdrop of existing gendered inequality, characterised by the persistent underrepresentation of women in senior leadership roles and, among other things, women’s disproportionate experience of harassment and workplace disrespect. The legal profession thus faces a challenge: how to harness and incorporate new innovations without further embedding gendered inequalities at work

Pandemic Pressures: Job Security and Customer Relations for Retail Workers

This report offers insights into the challenges faced by retail, fast-food, and distribution workers during the pandemic and recent lockdowns. In focus is the impact on job security and worker-customer relations during the pandemic

Technology and skills in the future of retail work: A summary of findings

Retail work is undergoing profound transformation, with rapid changes including digitisation, the collection and use of big data, and automation reshaping the industry and the skills required to work within it. These transformations have the potential to entrench and even exacerbate existing inequalities within the industry. Based on interviews with 30 senior stakeholders in retail and retail-adjacent industries, and a representative retail, fast food and warehouse worker survey (n=1160), this report examines perceptions and experiences of intersecting technological transformations occurring in the Australian retail industry and the changing skills sets required for the future of retail work. The retail industry is Australia’s second largest employing industry, with its workers representing approximately 10% of the Australian labour force. A majority of retail employees are women, and it is the third most feminised industry in Australia. Younger workers are over-represented in retail, and over half of the retail workforce are employed on part-time or casual contracts

Gendered Disrespect and Inequality in Retail Work: A Summary of Findings

Retail is Australia’s second largest employing industry (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022), with approximately 10% of the Australian labour force working in the sector (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2022a). The retail industry is characterised by a young, diverse workforce (Australian Human Rights Commission., 2019; Baird et al., 2018), most of which is employed on part-time or casual contracts (Australian Human Rights Commission., 2019). Fifty-seven percent (57%) of retail workers are women (Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), 2021), making retail the third most feminised industry in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2020). Women are also fundamental to the success and profitability of businesses in the industry, as they make up approximately 75% of consumer spending decisions (Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), 2021) (see Figure 1). Yet, within the retail sector, there is clear evidence of gendered disrespect and inequality. Women are underrepresented in senior leadership roles within retail, holding only 27% of board positions and 17% of chief executive officer roles (Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), 2021). Women working in retail – who are predominately young, low paid, and insecurely employed (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2020; Australian Human Rights Commission., 2019) – experience disproportionate rates of incivility, abusive behaviour, harassment and violence (Australian Human Rights Commission., 2019; Korczynski & Evans, 2013; Tindell & Padavic, 2022). This report is the second of two reports that interrogate the ways in which women and men working in Australia’s retail industry understand and experience the changing nature of work in retail, and their hopes and fears for the future of the industry. In the first report, Technology and skills in the future of retail work: Summary of findings, we investigated worker experiences and perceptions of intersecting technological transformations occurring in the Australian retail industry and the changing skills sets required for the future of retail work. In this report, we examine retail workers’ experiences and perceptions of gendered disrespect and inequality. The findings summarised here are based on data collected in interviews with 30 senior industry leaders and stakeholders, including representatives from industry associations and unions, senior managers of major retail employers, retail consultants and other industry experts. It also draws upon the findings of a survey (n = 1,160) of Australian retail, fast food, and warehouse workers