GetUp! is an Australian lobby group. It was founded on August 1, 2005 in response to the Coalition victory in the 2004 Federal election. GetUp campaigns are based largely around email and its website, however the organisation also uses broadcast and print media to get its message across.

GetUp describes itself as "a new independent political movement to build a progressive Australia. GetUp brings together like-minded people who want to bring participation back into our democracy." Its agenda is principally driven by opposition to government policy as it is announced. In the words of one of the site's founders, "To an extent it will be driven by the Government's legislative agenda and the issues they are pushing ahead on."

History

Founded by Jeremy Heimans and David Madden, the GetUp.org.au website was launched on August 1, 2005 along with a television advertising campaign. Inspired by the American website MoveOn.org, GetUp's initial campaign aimed to help voters to keep Australia's Howard government accountable as it took control of the Australian Senate on August 9, 2005 with an absolute majority of seats. This is the first time an Australian government has controlled both Houses of Parliament since the early 1980s.

The site encouraged visitors to send an email to Coalition senators that read "I'm sending you this message because I want you to know that I'm watching. Now that you have absolute power in the Senate, it is only people like me who can hold you accountable. And we will."

Campaigns

While GetUp's primary methodology to date has been to encourage its membership to email or call their elected representatives, the organisation has also employed a range of campaigning techniques, such as taking out advertisements in major daily newspapers, holding local events , running television commercials , and hiring a skywriter to write “Vote No” above Australia's Parliament House in Canberra . Several GetUp-initiated petitions have been presented in the Australian Senate by representatives of different political parties.

According to the GetUp! website, past campaigns include:

Now you answer to us, August 2005 - launch

Sell your lemons, September 2005 - against the sale of the government's remaining stake in Telstra Corporation, a telephone company

Stop preventative detention, September 2005 - against changes to anti-terrorism legislation

Put communities first, September 2005 - against voluntary student unionism legislation

We're counting on you, October 2005 - against the WorkChoices legislation

The deal is off, October 2005 - against changes to anti-terrorism legislation

November 15 rally, November 2005 - against the WorkChoices legislation

Honouring Van's life, November 2005 - in response to the execution of drug smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van by the Singapore government

Stay strong Steve, December 2005 - against voluntary student unionism legislation

Something you can do, December 2005 - against racism, in response to the Cronulla riots

Stop the endless summer, January 2006 - against the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate

Politics out of medicine, January 2006 - in favour of the transfer of the power to approve an abortifacient called Mifepristone from the health minister to the Therapeutic Goods Administration

Fund our ABC, 2006 - in favour of increased government funding to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, state-owned broadcaster

Stop the land grab, 2006 - against changes to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act

No child in detention, 2006 - against proposed changes to migration laws

We're calling Washington, 2006 - in support of convicted terrorist David Hicks

No media monopoly, 2006 - against a relaxation in media ownership laws

Defend Australian rights, 2006 - in support of convicted terrorist David Hicks

Authorised bribes, 2006 - in favour of expanded terms of reference for the Cole Inquiry into the Australian Wheat Board

Stop deceiving women, 2006 - in favour of regulation of pregnancy counselling

Our own plan for Iraq, 2006 - against Australian involvement in the Iraq War

Climate action now, 2006 - in favour of certain actions in relation to global warming

Save our heritage, 2006 - in favour of heritage listing for rock art on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia

In 2006, GetUp! also campaigned against the sale of electricity company SnowyHydro by the New South Wales and Australian governments.

Structure

GetUp is a non-profit organisation, registered as GetUp Ltd. In the vein of Moveon.org, much of the organisations funding comes in the form of small contributions made through its website. Under Australia's taxation regime, donations to GetUp are not considered tax-deductible as the organisation advocates for changes to government policy. GetUp has a small team of staff and volunteers, including Executive Director Brett Solomon.

GetUp's board members are:

David Madden, a co-founder

Jeremy Heimans, a co-founder

Amanda Tattersall, a union researcher

Cate Faehrmann, director of the Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales

Don Mercer, chairman of the Australian Institute of Company Directors

Madden and Heimans ran campaigns in the United States against President George W Bush.Tattersall serves as Research Director at Unions New South Wales. These links are not disclosed on the GetUp! website. Former board members have included Evan Thornley and Bill Shorten who left the board to pursue party political positions, and former Liberal Party of Australia leader John Hewson who left the organisation soon after its founding.

Criticisms

Promise Watch

Getup! instituted a Promise Watch campaign on its website to ensure that the elected government kept to its election promises, the idea being any member can record any broken promises, so that the government can be kept accountable, yet as soon as promises started to be broken, this campaign has has fallen off the website, and they are not answering emails about this feature,it would seem that Getup! is none to happy with the idea of keeping both sides of politics accountable.

Spam claims

The GetUp! website allows visitors to send pro forma protest emails to Coalition parliamentarians, leading to charges that GetUp! generates spam. Shortly after the first GetUp! emails began to arrive, member for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull said that "When you get 1,000 emails, all in exactly the same form, it's not exactly as persuasive as a bunch of emails people have written to independently express themselves."

GetUp! dismisses this criticism, referring to, in the Sydney Morning Herald's words, "an age in which people were interested in political issues but no longer had the time to write letters."

Front claims

GetUp has been criticised for being a partisan site because of its consistent opposition to key government policies. On August 4, 2005, Liberal Party politician Andrew Robb said on the ABC's The 7.30 Report that GetUp is "a front for the Labor Party, it's a political front. They're quite entitled to do it, it's a free country, but it's a political front. That's what it is."

In August, 2005, Australian Special Minister of State Eric Abetz called for two Australian regulatory bodies - the ACCC and the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) - to investigate GetUp's corporate structure, donations, and affiliation with political parties. The AEC concluded that there were "insufficient grounds on which to undertake a formal investigation."