Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Pressure groups and social movements
benefits. It can broaden the government’s support by demonstrating stakeholder participation.
Pressure groups achieve attention and credibility from the wider community,
and leverage to pursue their own policy priorities if the opportunity arises.
Yet some pressure groups are relegated to the periphery of the policy-making
process, despite access to the bureaucracy. Access alone is insufficient; without
influence, meetings are likely to be held with more junior officials. 54 Consequently,
pressure groups invest considerable effort and resources to demonstrate that the
broader community supports their position, and sustain their argument that their
view should be taken into account by policy makers. This explains their efforts to
develop public opinion which promotes their own policy concerns, and supports
their claim to speak for broader sections of the community. 55
Groups without sectional power or economic leverage have been excluded
from participation in policy making by their lack of representation in policymaking
institutions. 56 Restrictions on representations from particular lobbyists and
pressure groups can be a calculated strategy by governments to achieve particular
political outcomes. 57
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
recommends that a lobbying framework should include strategies to promote a
‘level playing field’. Information should be made readily available, conflicts and
preferential treatment avoided, and policy makers should be accessible to the broad
community and not just a privileged few, so that all voices can be considered. 58
Insiders, outsiders, and thresholders
Wyn Grant noted that pressure groups, like many other political entities, are
frequently categorised as political ‘insiders’ or ‘outsiders’ in their access to government.
59 Insiders are very close to government, and numbers of pressure groups are
integrated into government. Others remain excluded, presumably because they lack
the requisite power, contacts or expertise.
Consequently, certain stakeholders are relatively subservient subjects of
‘bureaucratic citizenship’, while other groups enjoy a ‘right’ to consultation and
participation in the policy process. The Australian Council of Social Services
(ACOSS) is one of the few welfare or advocacy groups represented in policy
advisory committees. In many ways it is an insider group, as it retains ongoing
consultative status. Its lobbying role is accepted, but unlike ‘producer’ groups,
ACOSS is not able to use economic sanctions to achieve a policy result. 60
54 Warhurst 1984, 20–2.
55 Davis et al. 1993, 153–5.
56 Warhurst 1984, 21.
57 Sawer 2002.
58 OECD 2008, 18–20.
59 Grant 1995.
60 Mendes 2006, 4.
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