The First Hundred Days…
Or how your NGO can win friends and influence people in Australia’s new Federal Parliament…
When the scent of sizzling meat and frying onions wafts across the nation in a few weeks, it’ll be a welcome glimpse of the federal election finish line for our pollies (and everyone else). But for advocates and campaigners, the BBQs and cake stalls signal the start of a different kind of marathon - the First Hundred Days of the newly elected parliament.
The First Hundred Days are considered crucial for new governments but are just as important for advocates looking to establish relationships with freshly elected politicians before their calendars are filled and priorities cemented. Engaging politicians directly is often essential for small, purpose-driven organisations representing community interests looking to achieve policy change or systemic reforms.
However, with 227 federal politicians and anywhere between 40-50 newly elected members and senators in each election cycle, each with their own values, aspirations, interests and experiences, it can be nigh on impossible to identify the next champion or potential ally for your cause - even when you are perfectly positioned to represent the interests of your community.
Politicians are busy people, so outreach needs to be targeted, thoughtful and strategic to advance your cause over the long term. That means understanding who you’re engaging and why. Regardless of who forms government, strategic relationships can (and should!) be forged across all sides of politics - election cycles are short and building these relationships can also be critical depending on the makeup of parliament (particularly if it’s hung!).
So how does the average campaigner figure out who to prioritise, and why?
The first speech is a common way of understanding new members of parliament, as it is used to outline their aspirations and philosophies, offering clues into what their motivations and priorities might be, and what roles they might hold in future. While it’s just one data point of many, first speeches are typically more candid, revealing where a politician’s views may diverge from the traditional party line or their degree of expertise or focus on specific issues. It’s the first opportunity to find out what politicians care about on the parliamentary record, and analysing this data can offer efficient ways for organisations to understand who best to engage.
Unfortunately, this all takes time and money, and small NGOs often don’t have the capacity and resources to do this work. Each speech is around 20 minutes long - and with up to 50 speeches to analyse, this can easily become an insurmountable task for the time-poor advocate. This can quickly leave you behind the eight-ball during the all-important First Hundred Days.
Even if you’re a speed reader with the critical analysis skills to match, 50 speeches means up to 17 hours of time, resources and mental bandwidth. Sure, a volunteer might be able to take the reins - but will they know what you’re looking for, without extensive briefing and training? And will they be able to develop a targeted strategy? For example, while you may assume one particular party is sympathetic to your cause, who is passionate about it? Who is going to add it to their list of top 5 issues and stake their political capital on it? Knowing how to tailor your messages could be the difference between recruiting a strong ally or simply garnering soft support.
So how to sharpen your best guess when time is of the essence?
That’s where we reckon we can help.
The Impact Collective team is analysing the first speeches of our newly elected federal politicians to provide insights that allow small organisations to more effectively target their advocacy. That means we’ll do the heavy lifting for you - providing a quick list of who your first cabs off the rank should be in the next parliament and whose values and interests align or intersect with yours, so you can prioritise who to talk to about your issues and identify a clear rationale for the best leads to follow, and what messages might work.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be answering the questions of why you should engage, how you can engage, how we can help maximise your impact - offering insights that go beyond traditional party lines.
We’d love to hear from you if this sounds like something you need, simply drop us a line here! And as a bonus - sign up to receive news and updates below and we’ll send you our FREE guide to maximising your impact in The First Hundred Days of the next parliament.
