Adjournment Debate - Campaigning for Change
Adjournment Debate - Tuesday, 3 December 2019
House of Representatives
I completely reject the idea that Australians are or should be quiet. For us to do our work in this place, we need noisy, passionate and purposeful Australians. One of the joys of our work as parliamentarians is the powerful advocates we meet. They're powerful advocates like Micah at Voices for Justice, who has been in this building this week providing a voice to some of the poorest people in the world and helping faith leaders have their voices heard both here and across the Pacific. They're powerful voices like Tamara Lindsay, a constituent of mine who is suffering from lung cancer. Lung cancer is one of the most deadly cancers. She is advocating for lung care nurses, just as we have provided for breast cancer and prostate cancer patients. They're powerful voices like Girl Guides WA, who sent a 20-person strong delegation to my office calling for meaningful action on climate change. They're young leaders like Ronan, who was the 2019 Head Boy at Mount Lawley Senior High School. He rocked up at my mobile office just last Saturday to outline his plans to improve mental health services for young people in Western Australia. When I think of powerful voices, I think of the kindergarten students at Perth College campaigning in their own tiny way to save our oceans from plastic pollution.
To those advocates I say thank you. Campaigning for change can often feel thankless. You have meetings and you share ideas, but change is always slow to come. To everyone who wants to change the world, especially our young Australians, remember that our country is stronger because people like you chose to share their voices. We have workplace safety laws only because people campaigned for them. We have free public schooling only because people campaigned for it. It took decades of election campaigns for Medicare to become untouchable.
My advice to Australians who want to help shape the future is, first, never be afraid to raise a concern with your local member of parliament. Find a method that is best for you—a letter, an email, a phone call or a meeting. Second, be confident. Your opinions matter. Your personal story and what matters most in your life is what people want to hear. If it helps, test your ideas with friends. Ask for feedback. Do a bit more research.
Third, talk about the type of world that you want to build. Don't talk about the cost to a business or some small-target approach. Talk about community, national and international interests. Think of big structural reforms. It's just as hard to campaign for something small as it is to campaign for something big. Today is the International Day of People with Disability. It was big-picture thinking that drove the campaign and the delivery of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Fourth, put your idea in writing. If you aren't confident in writing down your ideas, ask someone to help you. You don't need to leave behind a Christmas cake or a toy plane or any of the other silly things that lobbyists hand out in this place. Leaving behind a great idea is the best thing you can do for your local member of parliament. On that, I note that one great idea I recently received was from Shelter WA, campaigning to reduce or eliminate Western Australia's housing debt.
Fifth, ask for connections, contacts and help. You never know who out there might have the same ideas as you and you might also get some good feedback on your campaign. Sixth, always follow up. If someone makes a promise to you, hold them to it. The only reason I and many people in this place are members of an avalanche, a never-ending stream, of parliamentary friends groups, is that we couldn't say no to advocates like Tamara Lindsay. Remember that you won't always be successful. My campaign in the early 2000s to get 50c bus fares for TAFE and uni students, just like high school students had, was a complete failure, but it's important to learn from setbacks, debrief and regroup, and the feedback I got made me even more passionate about a publicly owned, publicly run public transport system.
Finally, and most importantly, remember that the people you are lobbying are human too. They make mistakes. They have different priorities. But, most importantly, they change their mind, and you are an important part of that. The marriage equality debate showed that people across Australia, and across this parliament, can and do change their mind. So, to all the Australians who are out there campaigning for change, knowing that the best country in the world could be even more amazing, I say thank you very much and I wish you the absolute best for your campaigns for 2020 and into the future.