P is for Political

Australian State & Federal Government websites are all active publishers of information and therefore relevant sources for information to incorporate in your PEST Analysis. Parliaments or legislatures, ministries or agencies are typically responsible for regulating activity related to business, between businesses and between the various government entities and businesses. 

Investigating the industry regulatory and policy requires locating government information by searching through governmental websites (see below).

Note that useful information can be in many forms: policy, regulation, government initiatives, government spending, committees and associated reports to name a few of the types of information required to develop a picture of the political context within which an industry operates.

More than one source may be required to build a detailed understanding of the sector.

See more guidance on the page, "Finding Government Information & Publications" in addition to the resources provided on this page.

Resources: 

• Overton [QUT Library Database] A searchable index of policy documents, guidelines, think tank publications and working papers from 182 countries and over a thousand sources worldwide. This database is best used to gauge international policy directions, publications and research from a wide range of NGOs, IGOs and governments.

• screenproducers.org.au - Screen producers (SPA) is the peak industry and trade body supporting the interests of over 500 screen businesses both large and small in their production of screen media. Find producer and firm level statistics and data on the Australian screen sector by accessing annual reports, media releases and other materials.

• Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development , Communication & Arts - This department supports inclusiveness and growth in Australia's arts, entertainment and cultural sector, and protects its workforces and promotes Australian content and culture through existing functions and the five-year National Cultural Policy, Revive.

• Analysis & Policy Observatory | APO -  APO aggregates policy, reports and publications from across the public sector. The information on this website might also highlight policy recommendations or social research. This resource is particular useful for supplemental policy commentary and research with many publications combining quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (focus groups / questionnaire) data. 

• Productivity Commission - The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy, regulation and a range of other social and environmental issues. The Productivity Commission is affiliated with the Treasury and provides the Government advice on microeconomic policy. For the purposes of a PEST analysis the Productivity Commission website will provide research, reports and research on the university sector that include the size of the workforce, industry structure and geographic composition. There is much material on the university sector available consider the market as a whole as well as employment within the sector - information will cover the following aspects: regulation, performance, competition, policy and consumers. The search function on this website provide useful categories to filter results according to: regulation, policy, competition and many other areas of P.C activity. See also the P.C dashboard that tracks at high-level a range of public services and governance performance in each area. 
   
• Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (Australian Government) -  DFAT is responsible for foreign policy and relations, trade and investment (via Austrade). The DFAT website provides an overview of  current foreign trade agreements. 
   
• Australian Government -  Provides access to Australian Government publications and information. This will take the form of budget statements, committee documents and other parliamentary materials. Consider this as an ancillary source to more conventional types of business reports, the information obtained may only be useful if you have sufficient context around the process from which it is generated and may require additional consideration in light of other information you already have. Many disparate departments and government entities interact with each other for example audits of statutory bodies may provide a broader view of department activities.
   
• Australian Public Affairs Fulltext (APAFT) (via Informit) QUT Library Database -   APAFT consists of aggregated content that consists primarily of editorials, opinion pieces, essays and other articles from Australian magazines and professional journals covering political, economic, legal, social and cultural affairs. Use the search tool provided in the database to retrieve information: be mindful of the date the information was published, consider the type of information returned from your searches, formulating keywords and combinations of keywords to use in the search tool will be vital to generating usable results.
   
• Data.gov.au - Data.gov.au is the central source of Australian open government data. Anyone can access the anonymised public data published by federal, state and local government agencies. In addition to government data, you can also find publicly-funded research data and datasets from private institutions that are in the public interest. The site has over 30,000 publicly available datasets from a range of departments and agencies. 
   
• Ministerial Websites - Though the information on ministerial websites will be largely announcements, media releases and records of appearances and interviews, ministerial websites can provide clues and cues as to policy direction and initiatives. The information on these sites would not form the most important information for your analysis - consider this variety of source as supplemental or incidental information. The primary communications of policy and stimulus measures are often via ministerial media releases. Queensland ministerial websites will also feature similar announcements.