Pressure groups and Australian health policymaking in the 1980s

In March 1983 the new Labor government was in a position to implement its health policies, including its promised revival of the community health program. Although funds were allocated, substantive issues of policy remained. Various parties at interest could agree on general principles but differed on operational meanings, means, and priorities. Seventy‐five groups whose leaders were interviewed devised an array of organizational strategies to influence policy development. These included reworking their own priorities and internal structures, developing media strategies, and changing their relations with outside organizations. The more successful groups, at least in the short term, tended to be older and larger.