Shifting Focus: The Impacts of Neoliberalism on Australian Nonprofit Advocacy

Abstract As the dominant economic ideology for almost half a century, neoliberalism has reshaped various aspects of society, including governments and nonprofit organisations. This article explores how this transformation has impacted Australian nonprofit sector advocacy, those activities ranging from public protest to face-to-face lobbying, whereby nonprofit organisations attempt to shift institutional powerholders on behalf of collective interests. One key change is the way in which Australian nonprofits have been funded; the neoliberal era in Australia, managed by both centre-left and centre-right governments, has seen the mass marketisation of human service delivery and a surge in nonprofits providing government-funded human service delivery. Concurrently, and in part as a result, Australian nonprofit advocacy has taken on a quiet character, favouring insider practices and modest goals. At the same time, Australian governments over the period have introduced a variety of laws which seek to discourage and constrain advocacy activities such as democratic protest. These changes necessitate a third change, in the relationships between nonprofit organisations and governments, between nonprofit organisations and each other and, perhaps most significantly, between nonprofit organisations and their constituencies. By discussing these shifting resource allocations, advocacy strategies and relationships, we suggest that the neoliberal era has reoriented the normative relationship between the state, the market and civil society, expanding the influence of the market to a degree that both governments and nonprofit organisations find difficulty resisting its pull. We conclude by noting the importance of nonprofit organisations renewing and reinvigorating their connections with people and communities.