How can I maximise opportunity from the federal election?
We share a checklist of things to tick off to make sure your organisation is maximising your government engagement opportunities.
By Neil Pharaoh + Rory Parker
There’s an election coming.
It could be in a matter of weeks, or as late as a Saturday in May, but only the prime minister knows for sure. What this means for organisations in the for-purpose sector (organisations like yours) is opportunity. Opportunity to amplify your messaging, advocate for election commitments, and build meaningful and enduring relationships with political stakeholders that pay off over time. But, to maximise your government engagement opportunities, you need to be prepared by ticking a few things off the checklist.
Understand your objectives
For your government engagement strategy to pay off you need a vision. Unlike the vision that the prime minister likely lost momentarily after his unfortunate welding incident, you need to look internally: what are my organisation’s short, medium, and long-term objectives and how can they be bolstered by working with government? Without direction your strategy will be stuck going in circles and you won’t be able to articulate your asks to a politician.
Map who you will target
In an ideal world, your organisation would have one-on-one conversations with each of the 151 incumbent MPs, all 76 senators, the countless candidates for each seat, and the top five or six senate candidates for each of the major parties… but this isn’t an ideal world and time and resources in the for-purpose sector are scarce. Therefore, you need to identify who the priority stakeholders are who will be the focus of your time. Keep in mind that, while ministers and shadow ministers may be key decision-makers, elections are won or lost in marginal seats – typically held by backbenchers – who will ultimately have significant influence on policy agendas. To find the right balance, map your organisation’s inputs against key electorates to identify your target stakeholders.
Identify what they want
Government relations is all about relationship building (it’s in the name!) and the best way to build these relationships is to understand that, contrary to popular belief, politicians are people. Too often organisations see politicians as nothing more than a funding purse or policy lever, and overlook that making friends is a two-way street. You wouldn’t ask your “designated friend with a ute” to help you move house without a carton of beer in return, so find your organisation’s metaphorical carton: it could be as simple as amplifying their message on social media or inviting them to an event. A critically important element here is this – you must engage across the political spectrum, with a diversity of candidates from several parties. Partisan appearances are not in your interest, and neither is placing all bets on one party to win the election (remember what happened in 2019?).
Get engaging
Elections mean that politicians’ jobs are on the line – a sure fire way to kick anyone into gear. That means, when they aren’t busy kissing babies or washing the hair of voters, they’ll be busy listening – to their constituents, to local organisations, and to the media – so that they can better understand how to represent their interests. What this means is that in the weeks and months prior to the caretaker period, we have a direct opportunity to get our organisation’s hopes and desires into the ears of political stakeholders. Letter-writing is still the preferred means of political communication, so post your key stakeholders a targeted introductory letter that tells them who you are, why you are important to them, and how you can work together. For everyone else, if you have capacity, send them a generic “good luck” letter – even these don’t go unnoticed. Just be sure to buy self-adhesive stamps, licking 302 stamps (one for each sitting MP and their primary opponent) certainly isn’t fun.
It’s important to keep in mind that an effective government engagement strategy takes time to build, and the looming deadline of the caretaker period is getting closer every day. The sooner you get engaging, the better your chances that your advocacy will pay off this election.
But, if it doesn’t, don’t stress.
The relationships that you build over the election period will be invaluable over the next term of government. For the MPs who get elected, you’ll have a contact within the walls of Parliament and, for those who don’t, there’s a good chance that many of them will find jobs as political staffers who won’t forget your advocacy.
Our team has prepared a detailed federal election checklist that includes:
key activities to undertake to engage with political stakeholders;
an example timeline of when to send letters, follow up, and more; and
tips on how to best campaign using your organisation’s social media.
This article first appeared at Pro Bono Australia as part of Tanck's fortnightly column, Happenings on the Hill.
Tanck offers advisory services in government relations, stakeholder strategy, and communications.
We specialise in helping for-purpose organisations to effectively advocate for their causes. Find out how we can help you!
