How can I have my voice heard in Australian politics?

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Alright, so you've got something to say, and you need to find a way to say it. It's big, it's political, it might be personal, or it might be structural. Whatever it is, you need to find a way to have your voice heard. How do you do it? Here we're going to break down an (almost) step-by-step approach to getting your voice heard in Australian politics, ranging from the things you can do right now to the things that take months or years of dedication.

The first thing you can - and probably should - do is contact your local MP. If you don't know who your local MP is, try going here and typing your suburb into the box or looking on this website here and hunting it down manually. Once you've identified your local member, start by sending them an email stating who you are and what you want to talk to them about. Now, this isn't always effective. Politicians are flooded with emails, and your interests may not coincide with their political interests, but it's certainly the first thing you can do to have your say and - eventually - someone will read it. Just be certain to ask for a phone call, zoom call or face-to-face meeting if that's what you want. Aside from email, you can certainly try phone-calling them or appearing at their local office and requesting a meeting, but those are arguably a little less reliable. Politicians are busy and may not be in their office when you call, so an email to express your views, why they should talk to you, and when you're available for further conversation helps everybody a lot.

But let's say that doesn't work for you. Maybe the person you need to talk to is a minister, or perhaps you're a Labor voter, and your local electorate is liberal. Well, then, you've got two options; the first is to hunt down the most relevant politician (elected or not) for your area or subject matter and email them. The second, however, is to join a political party.

All political parties have regular internal meetings where they attempt to gauge what their party members want, and it doesn't hurt to be part of those meetings. In many cases, you've got a better chance of at least being in the same space as your minister, local MP or nominee at a time when they're much more likely to be talking about issues you're involved in. So it's certainly a valuable move, but it's not the only move you can make.

Depending on your issue, you can get your political voice heard by joining the most relevant union. Most professions have unions - and if they don't, they should, and you might benefit immensely from helping start one. Even if you don't like unions, they are integral for pressuring for political and professional change that benefits the worker.

Protests, advocacy groups, or just taking your story to news websites and outlets: all these methods are good ways to get your voice heard depending on what your issue specific needs. Protest groups and advocacy groups can be a little harder to have your individual voice heard than the other options, but they are excellent methods to promote change through external pressure. If you're unsure which option is best, think of it like this. Protests are excellent at tackling general issues and making a lot of noise.

Advocacy groups tend to be more targeted about particular issues and tend to be highly informed about relevant protests. Dedicated media outlets are excellent for having your specific, individual issue be heard - if you can convince them to air or publish it. If you want to learn more about any of these options, one of the best places to go is the Advocacy Australia website; they have a lot of information, and even if they don't have what you're looking for, it makes an excellent springboard for finding more specific groups.

If in doubt, you can always create the group yourself. It's no small feat to find a group of people willing to write emails, send phone calls, or even travel to meet politicians face-to-face regularly, but such grass-roots approaches have proven very effective, and when combined with the work of protests, other advocacy groups and a public relations campaign working in concert with the regular media, well it can be very effective for a hot issue that can be resolved with only a few weeks or months of effort. However, if you need more than a few weeks or months, you might want to consider:

If all of the above options don't work for you, the final best solution is to simply commit and commit hard to a new trajectory in your career. Think about it; politicians are career professionals. Advocacy groups, unions, and media personalities are all career professionals. If you have a lot to say and want your voice to be heard, by far, the best solution is to take a long-term approach and commit to a new career through which your concerns and issues can be resolved. For some, this might mean joining a political party with the intent to be part of the inner workings of potentially an elected politician. For others, this might be trying out a new field of study, such as a graduate diploma in public policy, to qualify yourself for one of the most impactful professions in the field of politics short of standing for federal parliament.

As you can see, there are several ways that you can have your voice heard in Australian politics today, and what works best for you and your issue is something that only you can determine. But rest assured, there are ways to have your voice heard, and while it might be a hard fight sometimes, whatever your issue is, it is most certainly a fight worth having.