Unlocking doors in the new parliament
As the dust begins to settle on Australia’s long (long, long, long) awaited climate election, and celebrations among the campaigners and organisations who have been slavering for a greener political landscape subside, the question turns to exactly what each new member stands for, and whether you can get them on board to champion your cause, when hundreds of other advocates from across the country are jockeying to do the same.
We might be in the middle of a green wave, but that doesn’t mean that every newly elected Teal or freshly-minted Green is passionate about plastic in the oceans, or reckons getting rid of Yellow Crazy Ants is more important than transitioning away from coal and gas.
So how exactly do you find out who is (or could be) passionate about your issue in the new parliament?
As is often the case, deconstructing the past is a great way to demonstrate powerful ways of working in the future.
We’ve analysed the first speeches of politicians elected to the 46th parliament to find out where they stood on climate change. How widely did their views vary? Who was silent? And who would be on your shortlist to engage if this was your organisation’s primary focus?
What we found showed a fascinating diversity of viewpoints - even within the same party - showing that making broad assumptions about politicians of any stripe may well be leading your organisation down the garden path.
Of the 53 new politicians (for whom we have first speeches) elected or appointed in the last parliament, just over 40% made an explicit reference to the climate. At face value, we see all the usual suspects lining up to platform this issue, with 100% of the Greens and 100% of the independents mentioning climate. Nearly 60% of ALP members and 25% of Liberals (including the moderates we’ve heard so much about this election: Katie Allen and Dave Sharma) explicitly referenced climate in their first speech too - so if you were working on this issue, they would undoubtedly have been top of mind.
Outside of these two moderates though, only 25% of incoming Liberal (including LNP) members made reference to the climate. When we add the Nationals into this equation, the percentage dropped even further.
It would have presented a disheartening landscape for the climate campaigner in 2019. But when we drilled down a little deeper into the speeches of some of these Liberal politicians (who are often all tarred with the same anti-climate action brush), really interesting results began to appear, and opportunities for engagement emerged.
In their first speeches to parliament, LNP Member of Longman Terry Young, and (currently up in the air) Liberal Senator for Victoria Greg Mirabella made reference to climate in largely critical or ideological terms.
Mirabella said: “I am gravely concerned at how a Labor-Greens-Voices coalition would accelerate climate action, ban coal and shut down more base-load generation.”
Young remarked: “When I hear a school principal stand up at school assembly and say, 'If this government doesn't do anything about climate change, the world will end in 2030,' I get angry, because we should not indoctrinate our kids with fear mongering.”
Yet if we ended our analysis there we’d be selling both people short. Despite the lack of reference to climate in “reform” policy terms, both pointed to their recognition and care for the environment in their own respective ways.
In the case of Mirabella, it was through the language of energy: “Electricity is the single greatest enabler of our modern civilisation to our standard of living. For more than a century we have been burning fossil fuels to generate that energy, and we know we can't keep doing that. Globally we are grappling with a conundrum—a social demand for an accelerated shutdown of coal power and a lack of viable alternatives.”
For Young, it came down to individual empowerment: “There are greater two-word phrases than 'global warming', 'climate change' or 'climate emergency', and those two-word phrases are 'environmental stewardship', 'personal responsibility' and 'common sense'”.
Given the number of politicians who simply didn’t mention climate at all, the fact that these Liberals did leaves the door open for thoughtful engagement with each of them, perhaps using a more tailored approach.
All of this points to the importance of nuance, to not making broad brush assumptions that an entire party may or may not be “on your side”, and looking beyond the usual suspects (particularly if there’s many other organisations working on your cause, you can expect them to be engaging the very same people). After all, long term reforms need wide-ranging support if they’re going to stick.
While the Green and Teal landslide is undoubtedly set to shake things up, don’t assume because we have a more “progressive” parliament that they will immediately champion your cause - you still need to invest in building relationships and making a compelling case.
In fact, because the minor parties and independents are set to hold a significant amount of power in this parliament, every man and his dog will be wanting a piece of their time - so how do you achieve cut through?
Impact Collective is analysing the first speeches of all newly elected politicians to give small organisations a leg up in this process. We’ll understand your focus and send you a list of politicians who might be interested in your cause.
It’s the quickest, cheapest, and easiest way to get ahead this parliamentary cycle - get in touch today and we’ll explain how.
And as a bonus - sign up to stay in touch below and we’ll send you our FREE guide to maximising your impact in The First Hundred Days of the next parliament.
