ABSTRACT
Taking these findings as a whole, we can begin to address the third aim of this chapter – speculation on some of the causal dynamics at work here. Dividing party factors into two basic dimensions – capacity or resources and incentive or outlook – it would appear that it is the latter that is more important in determining a party’s level of engagement with new ICTs. Having a larger budget, more staff and a bigger membership base, as the major parties do, does not necessarily make them more likely to have a web presence or to use the web to reach out to supporters and, more significantly, invite them in. However, having a commitment to the participatory needs of one’s support base, as the Greens do, appears to engender more of such activity online. Equally, having a more centralised understanding of party organisation is also manifest here with the ALP and its templated approach to state and territory branch sites. Liberal Party sites, following the party’s more decentralist mantra, are clearly more variable in quality, with some states not even bothering to run a site at all. Of course, not all the differences observed can be put down to the influence of party ethos. There do appear to be some other aspects of parties’ online presence and performance that suggest the influence of broader geographic, demographic and political-institutional factors.
