Turnbull gives Liberals a digital push

Following Andrew Robb's dire review of the Liberal Party's campaigning in the last election, the party has launched a new website to sell their message.

Malcolm Turnbull liberal party divisions

Malcolm Turnbull has fired up over ongoing rumours of divisions within the Liberal party, Source: AAP

The prime minister sought to drive home the importance of digital communications for his party as the Liberals launched a new website to bring their message back on track.

Speaking at the party's federal council meeting on Saturday - where the new Liberal Party website 'The Fair Go' was launched - Malcolm Turnbull highlighted both the opportunities and pitfalls of rapid advances in communication technology.

"We live in a world characterised by change at a pace and scale unprecedented in human history. It is in large part driven by technology," Mr Turnbull said.

He said smartphones and social media messaging platforms had revolutionised how politicians engaged with voters, and held Facebook, which "I hope all of us are using", up as an example.

Facebook was necessary "for strong political and effective communication, getting around the mainstream media and making sure our message gets direct to our supporters," he said.

But the prime minister also said the internet could not be an ungoverned space.

"We cannot allow terrorists and extremists to use the internet and the big social media messaging platforms ... to spread their poison," he said.

The issue will be raised at the next meeting of the Five Eyes intelligence agencies to be attended by Attorney-General George Brandis later this month.

The Five Eyes countries include Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.

Outgoing acting Liberal party director Andrew Bragg used his final speech to introduce the website.

"It is designed to support the coalition's overarching narrative into social platforms and arm supporters with bottom up perspectives on public policy issues," Mr Bragg said.

It is in response to a review of the 2016 election campaign by former trade minister Andrew Robb.

Mr Robb found Liberal Party campaign messaging struggled to compete with the greater funding and effectiveness of Labor Party and progressive group platforms.

At Saturday's federal council meeting, Andrew Bragg said: "Publish or perish must be our credo."

Mr Bragg is due to be replaced by long-time Liberal Party staffer Andrew Hirst.


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world