Get Up Stand Up
With the Howard government now controlling the senate, it has more power than any previous government has had for decades. A new group believes that this increased level of one-party control over legislation and lessening of accountability signals a necessary shift in the tactics of those with more progressive views. This shift calls for a more interactive, public-opinion based campaigns. GetUp! is a progressive lobby group founded by Australian activists Jeremy Heimans and David Madden which aims to motivate more Australians into greater participation in debates on issues such as IR reform, detetention centres, media ownership laws and Indigenous reconcilliation. They hope to achieve this by offering members opportunities to directly engage with issues through letter-writing and internet-based campaigns, minus the tedious administarion problems seen to plague institutionalised parties. With a $1.5 million dollar budget and support from figures like former Liberal leader John Hewson and Australian Workers Union National secretary Bill Shorten, Get Up could become an important force in Australian politics. Ella O’Keefe asked Jeremy Heimans about the factors that contributed to the foundation of GetUp!