Interest Groups In Australia Essay

In Australia, the nature of political participation is charging greatly in recent years. There has been a significant decline in membership of major Australian political parties as a result of Australian participation with interest groups on national and local level (Smith, Vromen and Cook 2012). These interest groups represent the voice of the Australian public in regards to public policy and lobby for social, economic and environmental issues

As Australians continue to involve themselves with cause interest groups, their loyalty and membership has grown in recent years (Rennie 2017). A great number of interest groups engage and contribute in political, social and economic issue that affecting everyday Australian, for example marriages

Australia has a democratic system as Abraham Lincoln famously said democratic form of government “is for the people and by the people” however, when beliefs and values such as civil rights, property rights, religious freedom, media independence or minority rights are taken for granted, pressure group and lobbyist tend to target the government in the effort to represent community interest. Therefore, Interest groups and lobbyist will continue to be an important aspect of the democratic process to be the voice of the voiceless. Lobbying always has been and will always be an action taken to put pressure on the government, as ordinary citizens do not have direct assess to government officials (Thomson and John 2007). Sectional or commercial lobbyists are hired to influence political and policies decisions of the organisation the lobbyist is representing, while cause lobbyist or in-house lobbyist will tend to put pressure on the government but on behalf of the voiceless in society (Thomson and John