“Every moment is an organising opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.”
– Dolores Huerta
This chapter describes the nuts and bolts of implementing four advocacy tactics to put pressure on your local state or federal MP to get out of coal and into clean energy. Before we get there though, here are a few things all local groups should do:
Gather intel!
Before anything else, begin with the following five steps to find the information you’ll need for all future advocacy activities.
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Find your MP, their official website, and their office contact info here.
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Get a sense of who your MP is. Read their website, Facebook page, biography, first speech in parliament and recent media statements. Friend them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter, visit their office and grab the campaign pamphlets there have in reception to see what's important to them and the electorate. Research what they and their party have said on the issues you care about. They Vote For You has excellent information about how your representatives in Parliament vote on issues you care about. Open Australia is a website that enables you to keep track of what your representatives have said and done in Parliament, as well as recent debates and questions.
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Sign up on your MP’s website to receive regular email updates, invites to local events, and information on their positions on local issues to understand what they’re saying. Every MP has an e-newsletter.
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Find out where your MP stands on climate change, coal, clean energy and our environment. Remember your MP will have to vote the party line, and the policy positions on their website will have to align with federal party policy. However you can also learn a lot about what your MP really thinks from their comments in the media, which new releases they put on their website and historical commentary on issues from before they became the subject of party politics.
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Set up a Google News Alert — for example “Bob Smith MP” — to receive an email whenever your MP is in the news.
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Do some research on Google News to find out what local reporters have written about your MP. Find and follow those reporters on Twitter and build relationships. Before you attend or plan an event, reach out and explain what your group is doing and provide them with background materials and a quote. Journalists on deadline — even those who might not agree with you — appreciate it when you provide easy material for a story