00:00Anyone out there can do one, and anyone out there can bring about effective change in our society.
00:06Online petitions are a powerful tool in our democracy.
00:10Whether it's legislative change or a company policy, with a few clicks, ordinary people can make significant changes.
00:17Marketing lecturer Andrew Hughes believes petitions can encourage more people to engage with democracy.
00:24At the moment, people are very negative about democracy and politics in Australia.
00:27But yet, at the same time, I think what a petition does is say to people, you know what?
00:32We can do positive things. We can bring out positive change.
00:35And that gets more people involved and engaged with our democracy in a very positive way.
00:40The best way to create an effective petition is to think carefully about exactly what action you want and who can action it.
00:47Academic Sky Crozer explains.
00:49Online petitions can be really helpful if you have a particular achievable goal and you're asking an organisation or a group of people who have the ability to make that change relatively easily.
01:03If you want, for example, if you want a minor change in the production or the packaging of a product, and you're asking the organisation, the company, the local council that has the ability to make that change,
01:22and you know that they're susceptible to public pressure, that they're paying attention to what their residents or what their customers want,
01:30then a petition can be really effective in itself.
01:34Online petition website Change.org agrees that Aussies should thoughtfully consider who the petition should be addressed to.
01:41You have a million signatures, but if you're not speaking to the decision makers, if you're not reaching out to them,
01:46if you're not reaching out to media, they may not know that that petition exists.
01:49Page believes an effective petition needs a personal story, one clear ask, one change that you're advocating for, and a plan for leveraging the petition offline.
02:00I do think a lot of people think that because signing a petition is quick and it's easy and it's convenient, that it might not also be effective.
02:07But in 2024, we saw 500 petitions have declared victories.
02:12Recent victories include the 36-month and the Let Them Be Kids campaigns, which advocated for the social media ban for Aussie teens.
02:21Sometimes it's getting a dog park in your local neighbourhood or a crosswalk outside your local primary school.
02:26And I think that the best way to look at petitions is as, yeah, as one tool in a toolbox.
02:30It lets you know you're not alone.
02:32And that's so important, so powerful.
02:34A lot of people won't do something because they're scared to in the modern age, because they're scared they might be identified or people might, you know, have a go at them for their beliefs.
02:43But with an online petition, you are now part of many and you know that and you see that.
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