Outgoing Liberal party federal director Andrew Bragg (left) shakes hands with Andrew Hirst, the new party director in Sydney on Friday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP<\/p>\n
Australias Liberal party has launched a new website that it says will help seduce swing voters its way and challenge rival campaigning organisations such as Getup!. <\/p>\n
The acting Liberal party director, Andrew Bragg, launched The Fair Go website on Saturday, which is operated by the party. <\/p>\n
Bragg used his speech to the partys federal council as a call to arms to modernise or perish. He said the party had to deal with a cashed up cabal of opposition to its interests. <\/p>\n
Senior members of government and Liberal figures have been taking aim at organisations such as Getup!, which have excelled at developing novel and effective digital campaigns at a time when the Liberal party has struggled to keep pace. <\/p>\n
The Fair Go site appears to be, in part, a response to some of these new types of campaigning and, according to Bragg, will help bolster the partys efforts to seize the opportunities in the digital age. <\/p>\n
The WordPress site includes posts with titles such as Women are just people, Whos your grand-daddy? and From laissez-faire to much, much fairer. <\/p>\n
It also includes three words of the week that will change weekly. The inaugural locutions are needs based, union and slamming. <\/p>\n
A review of the partys last election campaign by Andrew Robb set out a series of concerns with the Liberal partys election campaign efforts, and found they were being outgunned and outspent by Labor and progressive activist groups. <\/p>\n
Bragg told the federal council: Publish or perish must be our credo. <\/p>\n
He said the website will be a publication which reaches beyond the existing cohort of fellow travellers to speak to undecided and swing voters. <\/p>\n
It is designed to support the Coalitions overarching narrative into social platforms and arm supporters with bottom up perspectives on public policy issues. <\/p>\n
The website appears to feature a cast of characters mostly linked to the Liberal party. <\/p>\n
Parnell McGuiness, a communications consultant who is the managing director of Thought Broker, is listed as the editor of the site. Penny Fischer, a Camden Liberal councillor and the daughter of Pru Goward, has also produced work for the site. Brigid Meney, a policy officer at Cornerstone Group Australia and former Liberal party political adviser, has contributed as well. <\/p>\n
The sites privacy policy makes it clear that the Liberal party collects users personal information and may contact them if they sign up to the site. <\/p>\n
It is Braggs final speech in his role as acting director of the party following Brian Loughnanes departure. Former Liberal party staffer Andrew Hirst has been named the new director. <\/p>\n
It is not the first time major parties have attempted more aggressive communication strategies. <\/p>\n
The Labor party launched the Labor Herald in 2015, which produced news and analysis for the party faithful. <\/p>\n
It no longer publishes content, and the website now directs users to a page that says it is currently on hiatus. <\/p>\n
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Liberals launch website to lure swing voters and take on activist groups - The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Outgoing Liberal party federal director Andrew Bragg (left) shakes hands with Andrew Hirst, the new party director in Sydney on Friday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP Australias Liberal party has launched a new website that it says will help seduce swing voters its way and challenge rival campaigning organisations such as Getup! Continue reading