David Bradbury Blake Dawson Waldron Tracy Leahy Hawkesbury Nepean Community Legal Centre

1. Effective Political LobbyingNACLC National ConferenceNovotel Northbeach, Wollongong4 September 2006 David Bradbury Blake Dawson Waldron Tracy Leahy Hawkesbury Nepean Community Legal Centre MM 201291627

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 • www.gov.au portal to all state government sites • www.aph.gov.au • www.aec.gov.au