• Contacting your Federal MP or Senator?

  For this particular issue, if you live in a Labor or Crossbench (minor parties and independents) seat, we suggest contacting your MP; but if you live in a Coalition seat we suggest contacting your state’s Labor Senator/s.

• You can look up your MP or Senator by name, postcode or electorate here to get their contact details.

• Always be polite and respectful, no matter what. You may or may not agree on policy, but your MP and their staff are people too. Besides, we want them on our side!

• When you contact your MP, whether by phone or in writing, always give your full name and where you live. It’s important that they know you are in their electorate, so say that you are; and if you’re writing, include your full address. It’s always helpful to give your phone number and email too – they might want to contact you back and hear more about your thoughts!

• If you’re phoning, it can be helpful to note your thoughts down first so you don’t lose your thread or forget to say something. 

• If phoning, be aware that you probably won’t get the MP on the phone. You’ll most likely speak with a staff member – these folks are important and helpful, and often have more time to talk than the MP does, so don’t be disappointed! You can talk with them about your concern and ask them to pass it on to the MP.

• If you’re writing, email is great - but if you can manage a paper letter by post or delivered in person to the office (even if the MP isn’t there at the time), that’s a real attention-getter.

• Be authentic - use your own words.

• Unless your MP already knows you, you should briefly introduce yourself and explain your connection to the issue or why you care.

• You can say that you want to let them know you’re disappointed by the delay in enacting the rest of the promised reforms to the EPBC Act.

• You can tell them your reasons, for example you might be worried that damaging projects approved under the current weak law will do irreversible harm before the law is reformed.

• You could remind them that reducing emissions this decade is critical to how bad climate change will get, so delays now are especially worrisome.

• You might want to mention that even though you want the reforms process to be prioritised, you still want genuine community consultation taken into consideration.

• You may want to add that you feel it is important for strong climate considerations to be included in the law, for instance in the form of a “climate trigger” (which would mean that climate change is elevated to the status of a new Matter of National Environmental Significance).

• It’s fine to simply let your MP or Senator know your opinion, but it’s much more valuable to let them know what you would like them to do about it - and this needs to be something that they actually can do. In this case, something MPs and Senators can do that would be helpful, is to advocate your concerns to the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water.

• Then ask them to follow up and let you know what happened.

Now that you’re warmed up, you can also call or write to the Minister yourself! The rules of thumb are the same as for your local MP (above), and your message can be essentially the same. Here’s the contact information:

• Federal Minister for the Environment and Water

  • Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water
    PO Box 6022
    House of Representatives
    Parliament House
    Canberra ACT 2600
    

  • Minister Plibersek’s E-contact Form (note there is a 9000 Character limit on the questions / comments field but you can include up to three fields)

  • Minister Plibersek’s Parliament Office Telephone: (02) 6277 7920

You could also get your opinion printed in the newspaper, highlighting the issue to others in your community. Plus, politicians often keep an eye on the letters in their local paper. Getting printed is competitive, so here are a few tips to improve your chances of getting your letter printed:

• Choose only one paper to send your letter to. If you’re lucky enough to still have a local paper, you’ll have a better chance of getting printed there. But if not, there’s nothing to stop you from trying a larger paper – you never know! This list of Australian newspapers may help.

• Whichever paper you decide to try for, use your search engine of choice to find its website, then head to the Contact page (often the Contact link is in the page footer) for the email address or webform to submit letters. If it’s an email address, put your letter into the body of the email, not as an attachment.

• Add a great subject line that starts with “Letter to the Editor: …” - it really helps to be specific here so your email doesn’t get overlooked.

• For content, you can use the ideas listed above to help you get started with what you want to say - but you’ll want to use a very different writing style here. Keep it…

  • Short - the rule of thumb is under 200 words for the body of the letter, but less than 150 words is even better;

  • Simple - try to choose just one main point (maximum two); and

  • Sweet - it’s great to be clever or funny … but still be polite, respectful and constructive while being firm.

• Do use full sentences and make sure the ideas are coherent - you know what you mean, but it can be helpful to ask a friend to read it and check that it makes sense to someone else.

• To make your letter relevant, try to tie it in with a very recent article in that paper (either pro or con).

• It’s helpful if you can include a personal or local story.

• Include a “call to action” (what you want someone to do in response to your letter) such as calling on the Government to prioritise fixing our National Nature Law.

• Include your full contact information.

• Check when the newspaper’s deadline is for Letters to the Editor and make sure you submit your letter in good time.