Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
changed some of the targets and instruments of Australian communications policy
whilepreservingmanyofitsbroadthemes.Inasectortypifiedbyrapidchange
in technologies and social and economic practices, policy makers, politicians and
the Australian people need to be aware of the possibilities of both radical transformation
and incremental adaptation along familiar lines. Old orthodoxies can
provide irrelevant templates as well as durable wisdom.
The dramatic rise of networked digital media platforms has undermined
business models for communications incumbents, fundamentally altered the
processes of political communication, and created new corporate behemoths that
are now potent policy actors in their own right. Predicting the political impacts
of these changes is highly uncertain. Arguing for Indigenous recognition to be at
the heart of any Australian republic, Megan Davis notes that no referendum has
been held in the era of social media. ‘It can happen quickly with campaigns’, she
says. ‘The old adage that, by and large, Australians trust and defer to politicians’
judgement on referendum questions may not hold up to scrutiny … Being afraid of
the constitutional amendment process in section 128 is to be scared of the demos.’ 48
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48 Davis 2018.
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