How Change.org became a legitimate force in Australian politics

Until recently, politicians could safely ignore clicktivism.

Hundreds of online petitions could fill their inboxes and they could look the other way, but that's changing. Now campaigns started on Change.org are translating into activism beyond the Internet and Australia's elected officials are taking notice. 

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In the 2016 election cycle, every major political party responded to at least one Change.org petition, if not more. It means you can start to make your voice heard by simply typing out your name.

For example, in recent months, leader of the Australian Greens, Richard Di Natale, responded to a petition calling for a sugar tax on soft drinks; Kelly O'Dwyer, the Liberal Party minister for small business, responded to one asking the government to stop the backpacker tax; and Penny Wong, leader of the Labor Party in the senate, also responded to a petition asking for funding to be returned to mental health programs. 

It's not as easy as clicking here to achieve change, though. A minister answering a petition with a reassuring letter does not substitute for actual legislation and cash. And of course, politicians will grab hold of every platform available to them during an election year. How else can you explain all those political Snapchat accounts? 

Yet, despite the mercurial nature of online outrage and political attention, Change.org has a growing impact on the campaign trail.

Mobilising bedroom activists

Launching in Australia in 2011, the American website has just shy of 4 million users in Australia who have either started or signed a petition.

For Karen Skinner, head of Change.org Australia, the platform has moved well beyond a petition website. "It's not just generic emails going into their inbox, it's a tool for the [petitioner] to mobilise a large community," she told Mashable Australia. "The risk to you, as a politician, is much higher and you need to engage."

According to Change.org, council members were the first to respond locally. Sydney Mayor Clover Moore's office, for example, answered a petition in 2012 that called for the "gay panic" defence to be abolished. While, Health Minister Sussan Ley was the first cabinet-level federal member to reply to a petition about access to medicine in late 2015.

Image: Change.org

Change.org, and other organisations that largely mobilise online, such as Australian organisation GetUp!, are forging unique digital spaces. Politicians are increasingly speaking on social media during elections, but it's used mainly to broadcast their platform and stops short of genuine dialogue. In Skinner's opinion, Change.org is a tool that allows a real exchange to occur between politician and voter.

"Politicians are feeling increasingly pulled to the site to respond because people are mobilising about the issues they care about, and politicians need to be where that conversation is being had," she said.

It's also the sheer numbers of those organising online that's forcing a political response, Stephen Harrington, a senior lecturer of journalism, media and communication at Queensland University of Technology, told Mashable Australia. "They simply can't ignore it any more, because constituents are increasingly expectant of a response," he suggested. 

"Major parties need to be seen as responsive to these new modes of activism, even if most of them are still stuck in the 'old world,' and would much rather have their members and leaders be the ones to dictate policy."

How can your petition succeed?

To help petitioners get noticed and make an impact with the right people, Change.org has staff who can assist them with their communication strategy. It can include anything from getting your message right through to refining the focus. 

"[We] look for petitions that have a clear, tangible ask and a strong personal narrative," a spokesperson told Mashable Australia. "The advice we sometimes give is for the petitioner to put their personal story front and centre, and sometimes to make their ask a little more focused on one tangible change."

Image: Change.org

Chloe Scott, 17, a high school student in Ballarat, had success with a petition she started in early 2016. Calling on the government to address the impact slashed milk prices were having on dairy farmers, she won a huge amount of media attention and a response from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. In May, the National Party leader promised an assistance package for farmers.

According to Scott, Change.org's assistance in finding media attention, among other tips, was vital to the petition's success. "They made it happen, really," she said. "They contacted me and did so much work behind the scenes to get media behind it. I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without them."

Converting signatures to activists

For activists, Change.org is chance to reach an audience of thousands.

Brigitte Garozzo, 25, who works and studies in Sydney, started a petition in January after seeing media reports the government was planning on cutting bulk billing incentives for pathology services. Recently, leader of the Labor Party Bill Shorten, along with Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, have both had their responses to the campaign published on the site.

Image: Brigitte Garozzo

In Garozzo's view, Change.org was a genuine mechanism for political impact thanks to the thousands of people she could now speak to directly. As part of her campaign, she asked signers, of which there are 222,101 as of writing, to call and write to their local member and Health Minister Sussan Ley. They were also invited to rallies across Australia.

"We used it as a way of doing activism, because there are 220,000 people that signed it, and you can get an email out to all those people asking them to do something," she said. "It was pretty effective in this case, but I think these things are more effective when they're paired with physical activism and education."

Who is benefitting?

Despite its often progressive impact on politics, online activism is a business, albeit a unique one.

Change.org calls itself a social enterprise that reinvests its profits back into the platform, but it still makes money off those drawn to the site. According to the organisation, the platform is funded through sponsored petitions. "Just like Twitter or Facebook's sponsored posts, organisations and individuals can sponsor petitions to have it shown to more users on the platform," a spokesperson said.

While he couldn't disclose the identities of current clients without their prior permission, he did add that Change.org "speaks to all main political parties at a federal and state level about promoted petitions on an ongoing basis."

Of course, it's also a easy way for politicians to win points. In Garozzo's case, Shorten and Di Natale responded in the last days of the 2016 election campaign, when being seen as active on constituent issues would be most useful to them. 

While Garozzo acknowledged it might be a politically convenient time, she was undeterred. "I think this is just a useful way for the Labor Party to use this as a way to get out to 220,000 people about their stance on Medicare," she said. "It's a convenient time to say this, but I welcome it anyway."

Change.org will continue to make its presence felt in elections to come, but when a petition fells a prime minister, then we'll know it's truly come of age.