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We found the email address at the Socialist Alliance’s website and sent an email explaining that we are University of Sydney students and that we would like to volunteer and help out in Peter Boyle’s Campaign. A number of phone calls and messages later, a meeting date was set to discuss in more detail of the campaign. We met Peter Boyle on 7 August 2013 in his office and after explaining that we would like to shadow and volunteer in the media aspects on his campaign, he was happy to collaborate with us.
This concluded the success of selecting and working with Sydney’s Inner City Federal Election Candidate, Peter Boyle. Peter Boyle is a national co-convenor of the Socialist Alliance and has been a socialist activist since the early 1970s when he radicalised around war, race nd class issues after his family migrated to Australia from Malaysia. He remains involved in solidarity work with the Bersih democracy movement in Malaysia. Peter writes regularly for the newspaper Green Left Weekly and has had a long involvement with the Aboriginal rights movement.
He has two daughters and two grandchildren. Brief history of party The Socialist Alliance was founded in 2001 by the Democratic Socialist Perspective and the International Socialist Organization, with six other founding socialist organisations. It is an alliance of socialist organizations and ndividuals in Australia. The largest group left wing group in Australia has branches in all states combined with federal electoral registrations as well. The socialism structure is based on five principles of: 1 . Solidarity and Collaboration ” Not “Dog eat Dog” competition and rivalry 2.
Environmental Sustainability – Living in harmony with the planet 3. Participatory Democracy – not just voting for “representatives” every three years 4. Social Economy – putting people’s need before corporate profit True Equality – between people, nations, religions and the sexes SITUATION ANALYSIS 5. Funds are needed for media coverage, video production, as well as printing of posters and flyers. More volunteers are also needed for distribution of flyers, street demonstrations and helping out in events.
While Peter Boyle’s election campaign has in place, the vital modes of new media publicity such as regularly updated Facebook posts, website articles, Twitter and Youtube TV channel, there is a lack of presence in the mainstream media due to a insufficient funds. To maximise the potential of Peter Boyle’s chances of winning a seat in Australia’s Federal Election 2013 for Sydney Inner City. 1 . To get the electorate of Sydney, Australia to know about Peter Boyle and the Socialist Alliance. 2.
Raise funds for campaign, events logistics, flyers 3. Attract more volunteers to join the Socialist Alliance Co-workers ” Besides having an accountant and administrative officer in the Socialist Alliance’s Sydney office, Jim Mcilroy and Reg Dare are Peter Boyle’s colleagues running for the senate position in NSW Federal Election 2013. They support Peter Boyle in the campaign by devoting their time and effort to publish content in videos, lobbying and participating In rallies and demonstrations.
Donors – Peter Boyle and the Socialist Alliance have developed a relationship with people who believe in their cause. Besides organising fund raising campaigns to raise money, some donors also will their money and wealth to the Socialist Alliance. This enabled the Socialist Alliance to purchase three offices in Sydney Central, as well as for the production of organising events, printing flyers, leaflets and posters for demonstrations.
Volunteers: People who donate their time and energy in organising and attending events and campaigns in support of the Socialist Alliance party’s goals. Surfacing 1 . By publishing news before the campaign launch about Peters election campaign on their main media tool – “Green Left Weekly”, a regularly circulated paid subscription newspaper, can help Peter establish an official and convincing image. 2.
Regularly posting follow-up reports about the process of Peter’s campaign on the official website, www. Socialist- Alliance. org, can help members and target audiences obtain the most up to date information about what activities Peter has achieved and will continue working hard for his political views and issues. 3. Utilising social media such s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can spread the information about Peters campaign widely and quickly among the blind-voters who are in Peter’s target audience.
While they may not follow the election closely, they may spot Peter Boyle’s name online and associate it on voting day. 4. Making promotional videos which places Peter in the spotlight showing the activities that they have accomplished and why they are fighting for particular issues such as wealth redistributing, anti-racism and protecting refugees and putting these videos on YouTube and local political forums can precisely and intuitively romote Peter’s political and public image. Ritual performance: 1.
By keeping up with the organising of refugee protection activities such as “Refugee Right Protest” at Sydney Central and anti-racism rallies in Redfern Block, the ritual of demonstrations with specific issues helps people to relate and recognise Peter as a “refugee protector” and “anti-racism” over time. This “publicity’ may also attract and gathers many refugee and aboriginal voters of Peter’s electorate. 2. Holding election speeches and campaign launch benefits for forming and organising the staffs volunteers and members of ther associated organisations such as Refugee Action Coalition and Single parents Action Group(SPAG).
These individuals will accept him as a member of their own organisations and offer as much support as possible to Peter and finally constitute the main human resources of Peter’s campaign. 3. The representative color of Socialist Alliance is RED. Hence in wearing a red shirt in demonstrations and in videos posted online, Peter’s ritual of wearing red makes him a standout from the crowd and catches the attention of the public. With the colour red associated to socialism, voters may relate the olour to him unconsciously and recognise him easily in the many rallies and demonstration events. Attack: 1 . Peter’s attack to his biggest competitor – Tanya Plibersek, is by posting opposing views by writing online articles in issues that she voted in parliament to cut the budget for the single parents and attack refugee women and children. This may damage the reputation of Tanya and he would be able to establish a higher position image in the eyes of Sydney’s electorate during the campaign. 2. Peter and the Socialist Alliance would arrange public ebates on main issues such as wealth redistribution, and environment problems with his competitors to confront them.
During the debate, people would be able to see how Peter voice out their concerns, as well as “put down” the opposition. This may or may not put Peter’s public image in a favourable light. Nonetheless, it creates more hype to his name. 3. In Peters ongoing fight with the rest of his competitors, organising on-street rallies against ALP and LIB party for the climate change issues and the PNG Solution is a perfect chance to promote Peter locally and nationally. These issues hit he headlines on mass media and social media throughout Australia during the federal election.
This attack strategy thus uses Peters strong competitors as a tool to get him noticed, and gets him noticed by the public. Regrouping After the attack stage, with his competitors pointing out and using Peter Boyle’s weakness against him and the Socialist Alliance, a regroup process can help him find out his own weakness on the campaign. He can then re- organise resources such as the press media and staff support and amend his campaign strategies in future events.
He can then make up the drawbacks by eviewing his weak points and perform better campaign activities by the criticism from his rivals. Circulating After the above stages mentioned, Peter Boyle’s exposure to the public will be much higher as compared to the beginning. The attention that Peter gets from his electorate will increase as well. As one of the campaign objectives is to let as many as people notice and vote for him, it is crucial to continue promoting himself and the party as well on social media.
Circulating follow-up reports and information of the campaign will be a first choice because of the ow-cost and the extensive attention. Evaluation 1 . After going through the stages designed above, Peter will be able to establish a public image of a far left wings socialist who devotes himself into the political movements on wealth redistribution, environment protection, anti-racism and refugee protection. 2. The Socialist Alliance will be brought in sight of the inner Sydney electorate and gain more attention than before. 3.
With the greater increase of exposure to the public, donators and volunteers are more likely to cooperate with Peter Boyle as well as Socialist Alliance. This progress will increase steadily and benefit the future development of the Socialist Alliance. In the end product, Peter Boyle will gain more people and financial resources to launch his future projects and proposals. The campaign aims to reach out to the entire electorate of Sydneys Inner City residents, which includes but not limited to: Eligible younger voters and the future generation Of young voters.
Tactics Get volunteers, donors, readers, helpers and supporters to distribute flyers to the areas of Sydney Inner City’s electorate such as the Sydney central usiness district and communities such as Surry Hills, Redfern, Erskineville, Camperdown, Annandale, Rozelle, Balmain, Glebe, Newtown and parts of Darlinghurst. To continue writing and uploading news articles, photographs, and videos of recent events to the Socialist Alliance website, as well as on Facebook and Twitter accounts to interact with the public.
By using new media tools and keeping it active and updated, there are more opportunities to reach out to the online community and appeal to the younger generation of voters. Place posters at strategic locations across Sydney to maximise the outreach f the electorate of Sydney. BUDGET There is a current budget of $3500 for the campaign, with donations from fund raising activities expected to arise. Donations and costs related to the Socialist Alliance and implementation of the campaign, as well as administration and management of the donations and accounts, are being handled directly by the client.