Farm protest and militancy in Australia: Supporting or undermining interest-group politics?

This chapter approaches the question of rural protest in Australia. It does so by charting the professionalisation of farmer interest groups and the implications this had on political participation by farmers. The value of such a perspective is that it makes explicit the interconnection between 'outside' strategies of organised political advocacy and more acceptable and institutionalised forms. The chapter offers a historical account of the ways in which protest - and other forms of collective political response - have been used by Australian farmers.