Although it continues to lag behind in the opinion polls, the ALP is streaking ahead of the incumbent Liberal Party when it comes to the popularity of its Web site.
Internet monitor Hitwise has been monitoring traffic through political Web sites in Australia since April 1999. According to director of research Andrew Barlow, traffic figures for October 10 saw a significant increase for the ALP site that attracted 38 percent of Australian political Web site hits, with the Liberals' eking into second place, ahead of the Democrats for the first time since the election was announced.
Recently-released Hitwise research appears to indicate an increase in the usage of the Internet in -party shopping". Data indicates that surfers are increasingly moving in between the different sites in search of policy information and news.
-We have seen in this election people doing increasing amounts of comparison shopping," Barlow said. -People are looking for information on policies and then moving between the sites."
While all the major parties clearly agree of the importance of the Internet within the campaign, there are some dramatic differences in their approach.
The Liberal party's foray into new media in the run up to the Victorian state election is clearly still smarting. The Victorian Liberal party invested significant funds into an interactive media site to support Jeff Kennet's campaign, only to suffer a resounding defeat among their more traditional voters.
One Liberal Party spokesperson told ZDNet Australia that while the party considered it necessary to maintain a Web site, it was careful not to overstate the importance of the Internet.
-It is just one of many campaign tools," he said. -Clearly it plays a part, but the bulk of Australians do not use the Internet as their major source of information and we are not going to focus on it any more than is necessary."
The ALP on the other hand has had its Internet campaign in the pipeline for approximately six months. They even secured the domain www.alp.com from its Italian owners, who were thinking of mountains and not politics when they initially had it registered.
The site holds everything from policy statements to television advertisements, and is backed up by servers ready to handle a million hits per day.
Dr Dennis Perry, IT Consultant to the ALP, believes the party has lead the way in online campaigning since it first launched a site for the 1996 Federal Election.
-People are building up a series of expectations of the sort of information they want to find, and you have to cater for every level of interest," Perry said. -It is in important medium for those that want to take a more thorough approach to choosing a party to vote for."
Perry also said we are unlikely to see the some of the site defacement which beset previous elections.
-Most of the parties have a better understanding of security issues now, so I don't think that will be happening again," he said.
Similarly, Democrats IT spokesperson Di Graham described the Internet as an important medium for the presentation of positions and policies.
-As our policies are launched they immediately appear on the Web site," Graham said. -You can't always rely on the commercial media to present policies thoroughly."
Graham also said that the Internet was particularly relevant to the Democrat voter profile, which tends to be younger and more highly educated than for the other parties.
-Our voters are very computer friendly," said Graham. -For many the Internet is a key source of information."
The lighter side of politics
It would be wrong to assume that political campaigns are solely focused on providing clear information regarding policies and political directions. The Internet is also playing an increasingly important role in the dissemination of political satire.
While the ALP backed www.politicalbigbrother.com has received the most interest, apart from Australian satirical classics such as www.chaser.com.au and Rocket, independent sites are in short supply thus far in the election.
The unofficial John Howard fan club at www.drongo.com seems promising, but only lasts two pages, and the Skepticalskoundrels give Richard Alston an irreverent roasting at www.skepticalskoundrels.com. However, some of the sharpest satire is reserved for Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party at the Unofficial Pauline Hanson Web site (http://www.rubix.net.au/~ntwn/pauline/can.html).
