Introduction
This article reflects on the tactics, strategy, and efficacy of two non-profit organisations involved in advocacy regarding forestry in the 1990s and 2000s. One of these, Liberals for Forests (LFF), was made up of Liberal Party supporters who were campaigning for the cessation of logging in native forests in WA, while the other, the Timber Communities Australia (TCA), represented the interests of the WA forest industries and advocated continued logging. The evaluation of their respective campaigns and how they interacted is based on analysis of media articles, interviews and historical research.
Ian Marsh contends that in Australia ‘every major addition to the political agenda in the past decade was originally championed by an issue movement’. Such a statement is heartening to those involved in ‘issues’ campaigning today. However, struggling as an activist in peace and environment organisations throughout the 1980s, I often questioned how effective we were in achieving our aims. My interest in non-profit organisations (NPOs) and their effectiveness grew from these years of working for social change in various Australian advocacy organisations. These organisations belonged to a sub-sector of non-profit organisations demanding changes in or by government, and were part of broader social movements. Marsh’s statement reveals the importance of studying social movements in an Australian setting. – David Worth
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The WA Forest Conflict: The Construction of the Political Effectiveness of Advocacy Organisations