“There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”
- Alexandre Ledru-Rollin

We hold all political parties to the same standards on our environment

ACF is independent and nonpartisan. Our long-term goal is that all political parties – left, right or centre – value our environment and work to protect it for people and nature because they understand there is an unassailable expectation from voters that they have a duty of care to do so.

All political parties should support strong laws to protect life. We want all parties to make strong policies and dedicate sufficient funding to look after the air we breathe, the water we drink and the places we love.

What matters is that trees, oceans, people, and wildlife can thrive. We hold all political parties to the same standards of protecting our environment and give them all equal opportunity to to respond to our demands. You can use these same principles in your local advocacy.

It’s all about re-election, re-election, re-election

To influence your own Member of Parliament (MP), remember one thing: election cycles in Australia are short. Most of the time, most MPs are either running for election or preparing to run for the next election.

This doesn’t mean your MP is cynical and unprincipled. The majority of people in our Parliament believe in their ideals and care deeply about representing their constituents and having a positive impact. But they also know that if they want to make change, they need to stay in office.

This constant re-election pressure means MPs are enormously sensitive to their image in the electorate, and they will work very hard to avoid signs of public dissent or disapproval. What every MP wants – regardless of which party they’re in – is for his or her constituents to agree that:

"My MP cares about me, shares my values, and is working hard for me.”
— What every MP wants their constituents to think

What does an MPs office do, and why?

A MPs office is composed of roughly 3-5 staff, based in one or sometimes two offices in different parts of the electorate. Each federal MP also has an office in Canberra, but unless they are a Minister, this office is usually empty except during Parliamentary sitting weeks.

MP electorate offices perform the following functions:

• Provide constituent services. Staff connect with both individual constituents and local organisations, serving as a link to and an advocate within the federal government on issues such as visas, grant applications, and public benefits.
• Communicate with constituents directly. Staff take calls, track constituent messages, and write letters to stay in touch with constituents’ priorities, follow up on specific policy issues that constituents have expressed concern about, and reinforce the message that they are listening.
• Meet with constituents. MPs and staff meet with constituents to learn about local priorities and build connections.
• Seek and create positive press. Staff try to shape press coverage and public information to create a favorable image for the MP.
• Host and attend events in district. MPs host and attend events in the district to connect with constituents, understand their priorities, and get good local press. This takes up an enormous amount of their time.

Who makes political decisions and how?

One important thing that’s not on this list is making legislation. If your MP belongs to a political party, then he or she isn’t able to decide how to vote on legislation. Party discipline is tight in Australia, and ‘backbench’ MPs almost never ‘cross the floor’ to vote in opposition to their party.

When a bill is listed for a vote in Parliament, the leadership of each party decide how that party will vote on the bill. They do consult their party room, but ultimately the leadership will make the call based on existing party policy, negotiations with the other side, their sense of how the politics of the issue will play out with the voting public, pressure from industry or lobby groups, and media coverage. Once the decision is made on a party policy position, all MPs from the party are required to follow the “party line”. The same applies for all official party policy and election platforms.

However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hold your MP accountable for the policy of their party. Otherwise, we’d be faced with an eternal cycle of buck-passing: backbenchers telling constituents that policy decisions are made by the relevant Minister or by Cabinet. But those people aren’t the representatives of the concerned citizens in question, and so they don’t need to care very much what those citizens think.

Holding each MP to account for the policies of their party is the only way to make change at the top. It’s important to let your MP know you understand their political constraints, but aren’t going to let them off the hook.

However, there are still lots of things your MP can do, and these are all things you can focus on:

• Make your MP defend their party’s policy in public. MPs generally find it frustrating to defend an unpopular policy to their own constituents – although they didn’t make the decision, they have to defend it to their angry voters. If your MP frequently has to defend an unpopular policy, you can be sure they will relay that dissatisfaction to decision makers in the party. Electoral mathematics also comes into play: what happens in individual seats matters to party bosses as they have to win those seats for their party to win an election.
• Ask your MP to make public statements that disagree with their party’s policy on an issue. MPs do this a lot, and it is much harder for a party or government to stick to a policy if backbench MPs are undermining it in public. MPs can threaten to cross the floor on a particular issue – a couple of Coalition MPs have used this tactic to raise the profile of key issues lately.
• Ask your MP to raise issues in their party room for discussion with their colleagues, and lobby internally for a change of position. They can also relay your concerns to the relevant Minister or Shadow Minister, and bring you back an answer.
• MPs can even express their concerns about a policy position while they are speaking in Parliament. They can read out your letters or table your petitions in Parliament.
• Ultimately, put the onus on your MP to show you that they’ve done everything in their power to oppose their party’s bad policies and advocate for better ones.

While you might not have the ear of the party leadership, holding your MP to account for the decisions of the party is powerful. To form government in Australia, a party needs to hold a majority of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. Your MP wants to keep his or her seat so they can keep their job, and the leadership of his or her party need him or her to keep that seat in order to win the next election.

Which elected representative should you target?

You elect people to represent you in three levels of government – federal, state and local government. Each arm has different roles and responsibilities so make sure you’re talking to the person who can make a difference at the right level of government.

Why target the federal government

Federal Members of Parliament are responsible for broad national issues like defence and the economy. Especially as Australia has signed a number of international treaties, the federal government (or Commonwealth) is often responsible for making laws to protect our environment. It also leads the way (or is supposed to) on major issues like climate change and transitioning Australia to clean energy.

Every Australian is represented by one Member of Parliament who sits in the House of Representatives (Lower House). You’re also represented by 12 Senators if you live in a state, and two if you live in a territory.

Members of Parliament represent people in their electorate (you!). They debate proposed laws and issues of public concern in the House of Representatives (the lower house), make new laws and change existing ones. Members can also present petitions from constituents (like you!) and raise citizens’ concerns and grievances. Elections are won and lost in the lower house, because that’s where parties need a majority to form government.

Senators in the Australian Senate (also known as the Upper House) represent each state and territory and share the power to make laws with the House of Representatives. It reviews and sometimes blocks laws and keeps the government in check.

These dynamics mean that pressure on the MP who represents you in the Lower House is easier, and generally more powerful, and this is usually the best place to focus your advocacy work. However, targeting your state Senators is also an option – just follow the general advice in this toolkit and apply it to your Senator.

Who is my local MP?

Which electorate do you live in?

• Find out which federal electorate you’re in and the local Member of Parliament that represents you. 

How to contact Members of Federal Parliament:

• You can find and write to your MP on our simple webpage
• Find contact details for
  • House of Representatives
  • Senators

Why target your state representatives

State governments are responsible for everything the federal government isn’t – such as running schools, police, public transport and hospitals. They are responsible for the day to day administration of decisions and administration of land and water management, as well as delivering clean energy projects, closing coal-fired power stations, conservation, pollution, state climate laws and targets, and much more.

There’s quite a big overlap between state and federal powers. For example, the federal government might fund a project a state government delivers, or a large project might need state and federal approval under different laws (like Adani’s Carmichael coal mine). It may be a good idea to meet both federal and state representatives.

Like federal parliament, all states but Queensland have both upper and lower houses.

Find your electorate and state representative contact details here.

Help, my MP is actually pretty good!

DON’T switch to targeting other MPs who don’t represent you. They don’t represent you so they don’t really care what you have to say. Stick with your own local MP.

DO use this guide to engage with your MP locally. Instead of pressuring them to do the right thing, praise them for doing the right thing. This is important because it will help ensure they continue to do the right thing. MP staff rarely receive feedback when the MP does something good – your efforts locally will provide highly valuable positive reinforcement. Ask them to champion your concerns – raise them in the party room and in Parliament, speak out in the media and at events and community forums.

Help, my MP is in a ‘safe’ electorate!

If your actions mean citizen’s voices are strong and questions are asked, you will unnerve your MP and change their decision-making process. Even if your MP is in an electorate that always votes Labor or Liberal, don’t just assume they have a safe seat and there’s nothing you can do to influence them. The reality is that no MP ever considers him or herself safe.

More broadly, no one stays an MP without compulsively protecting their image. Even the safest MP will be deeply alarmed by signs of organised opposition, because these actions create the impression that they are not connected to their electorate or listening to their constituents.

In recent years, voting patterns in Australia have changed. For example, Mayo in South Australia was called a ‘safe’ Liberal seat right up until Rebekha Sharkie won it for the Nick Xenophon Team at the last election. That same election, the ‘safe’ seats of Batman, Gray, Melbourne Ports, Higgins, and others, suddenly seemed likely to change hands.

What your MP cares about

When it comes to constituent interactions, MPs care about things that make them look good, responsive and hardworking to the people of their electorate. In practice, that means that they care about some things very much, and other things very little:

What Your MP is thinking: Good outcome vs. bad outcome

Here are some examples of different ways MPs can react to advocacy – actions they might take, what they’re hoping to see happen as a result, and what they really don’t want to see happen. Some MPs will go to great lengths to avoid bad outcomes.