Suddenly We Have A Better Idea Why The #myHealthRecord Is So Long-lasting!

It seems to me the explanation came into clear view last week:

Labor leadership devoid of tech talent: ALP autopsy

By Julian Bajkowski on Nov 8, 2019 1:26PM

Bemoans “lack of digital literacy within Labor’s senior ranks.”

“Few, if any, Party officials have genuine expertise in how digital platforms work and how progressive organisations can make the most of the opportunities they offer.”

“Labor employs very few digital specialists and often the default position is to define digital as the responsibility for managing some social media accounts and to allocate this to relatively junior staff and officials.”

Those are just two of the brutal observations made in the Australian Labor Party’s election loss autopsy that found multiple causes of electoral death – and no detectable digital pulse at a time when campaign technology and online communications have become politically weaponised.

In an excoriating take-down of the progressive party’s organisational structure and leadership competencies, the review by Craig Emerson and Jay Wetherill says “Labor’s reluctance to embrace ‘digital-first’ campaigning left it flat-footed and falling behind its opponents.”

It’s a far cry from a decade ago when Kevin Rudd held an ageing Toshiba laptop aloft to declare the ‘Digital Education Revolution’ and online campaigning talent and techniques from the Obama campaign were flown in and feted like rock stars.

Or when Senator Kate Lundy irritated clueless bureaucrats with endless questions about open source and Microsoft lock-ins.

One example of extent of the digital edge the ALP held over the Coalition in 2007 is that former Prime Minister John Howard forced himself to get an official Twitter account in the sunset of his final campaign that days later saw Labor swept into office as an altogether more modern party.

Back then of course platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitter were the go-to accessories for politicians trying to slot into the digital groove as tech companies trawled the ranks of political advisors for future lobbying talent and public policy hires.

But it seems fewer and fewer people with hands on tech or digital experience are returning to the ranks of the Labor machine, either as party officials or candidates, producing a major skills deficit that helped hobble its campaign at the last poll – though whether it would have made a tangible difference is questionable.

Win or lose, you do need to front on the field to be in the game, which is where the autopsy gets really grizzly.

“Over the past two decades digital campaigning has graduated from a novel afterthought to a key plank in parties’ efforts to reach and persuade voters,” the autopsy says.

“In 2019 Labor’s reluctance to embrace “digital-first” campaigning left it flat-footed and falling behind its opponents.”

A big part of the problem it appears, was that people with digital roles were relegated to back office and support functions during the campaign.

The autopsy says Labor's digital team “was responsible for a diffuse set of functions which were mostly shared with other teams including online advertising, fundraising, supporter communication and mobilisation, web development, content production and design, data analytics, and maintaining Labor’s social media presence.”

Much more here:

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/labor-leadership-devoid-of-tech-talent-alp-autopsy-533674

As I read this I thought to myself if the Labor Party could not properly get its collective head around using tech for what amounts to political survival, what chance understanding the intricacies and issues surrounding the #myHealthRecord – to say nothing of those vexatious encryption laws and so on.

Clearly without better tech advice than they were receiving they could not realise just how dopey the present Health Record Policy was and how vulnerable the Libs were on it – and other issues. Opportunity missed I reckon.

One can only hope that it will not take then till the next election to get up to speed tech wise and to realise the #myHealthRecord is a useless dog!

BTW, I am not sure the Liberal Party digital literacy is so much better! Do you think it is that both sides can’t work out what to do so it just festers on?

David.