1 Effective Political Lobbying NACLC National Conference Novotel Northbeach, Wollongong 4 September 2006 David Bradbury Blake Dawson Waldron Tracy Leahy Hawkesbury Nepean Community Legal Centre MM

2 Introduction Why is the lobbying of politicians important to your Community Legal Centre?  Operational reasons  Funding  Service delivery reasons  Policy  Referrals  Assistance with dealing with government agencies

3 Know the players Effective political lobbying requires you to know the players  Which level of government?  Federal, State or Local?  What funding and policy issues are within their responsibility?  What is the member's political affiliation?  Government, opposition, minor party or independent?  What is the member's background?  What issues is the member interested in campaigning on?  Get to know them and make sure that they know you

4 Making contact What are the best ways to make contact with your local representatives?  Make an appointment  introduce yourself and your service  discuss a funding issue  discuss a policy issue  Invite them to an event  AGMs  Project launches  Open days  Participate in community activities  Interagency networks

5 Meeting the member Arranging the meeting  Send a letter requesting a meeting and inform the member of the reasons why you want to meet them  Follow up the letter with a telephone call  Send through a proposed agenda and 1 page summary of the issues to be discussed  Find out who will be attending and advise the member's office of who will be attending from your service  Make sure you have a business card

6 Meeting the member Achieving your goals in the meeting  Be prepared  What do you hope to achieve? – set realistic goals  Make sure you know how much time you have  Prepare an agenda and stick to it  If you intend to provide any written material - limit the information to 1 page (possible exception - your latest annual report)  Establish a timetable for future action  Follow up with a thank you letter and outline of future action

7 Grabbing their attention What are the things that might grab a politician's attention?  Evidence of bad policy and unjust outcomes  Personalise your story with real life examples  Votes  Who is affected?  How many people are affected?  Is the impact of the issue a "vote changer"?  Public Meetings  Petitions  Letters to MPs  Media – "a two edged sword"

8 Building long-term relationships The most important thing you can do is to build strong long-term relationships with your local representatives  Make regular and ongoing contact  Don't just turn up on election eve demanding things  Don't just contact your local member when you need them  Make sure you keep the member informed of the progress of your Centre, especially success stories  Participate in other community activities, where you can profile your service and demonstrate that you are community focussed  Remember that once you burn your bridges, there will be no going back

9 Case Study Developing an effective lobbying strategy for Many Beaches Community Legal Centre  What are the issues?  Who are you going to lobby?  How are you going to lobby?

10 Conclusion  Questions?  Useful websites  portal to all state government sites  