NSW
Write to Labor MLCs
An MLC is a Member of the Legislative Council, or the “upper house”. These politicians do not have a specific electorate or area, but represent the State as a whole.
The most effective way of writing is to write a single email text, and send individual emails to the 15 Labor MLCs listed below. That way you can start each email “dear ***” with the MLCs name. If you send one email CC’d to everyone it will be taken less seriously.
You can address the MLCs as “Dear Firstname” or “Dear Mr/Ms Lsstname”
Discussion points are below, and a sample email can be found at the bottom of this page. If you have already written an email to a Labor MP, then feel free to re-use that text.
MLC Contact Details
Discussion Points
Introduce
Introduce yourself to your MP, say where you live, something about your family, community, or church/mosque/temple etc.
Say that you are writing because your are concerned about Alex Greenwich’s “Equality” Bill, which is being debated on February 8th.
Concerns
Outline some of your concerns about the legislaton. You do not need to cover everything that is wrong with it, instead focus on the issues that concern you personally the most.
Some options are:
Religious Freedom
- Hollows out protections for faith-based institutions from the Anti-Discrimination Act. This will open up faith-based institutions to constant complaints of discrimination and allow judges to decide what is “reasonable” faith.
- Removes protections for faith-based schools or any religious institutions considered to be “providing services” to the general public.
Children consenting to medical treatment
- Allows young people 16 or over to make medical decisions for themselves (including life-altering surgery) as if they were an adult, regardless of their parent’s wishes.
- Permits a child under 16 to consent to medical treatment against the will of their parents, so long as a doctor says that the child is capable of making the decision, this includes the use of puberty blockers.
This undermines the relationship of parents and children, and allows children to make life-changing decisions without their parent’s guidance and support.
Sex Self-ID
- Allows young people from 16 years old to change their sex on their birth certificate whenever they want, regardless of biology or surgery.
- Forces schools, prisons, places of worship, and other women’s spaces to treat people as their newly-declared sex regardless of how it impacts other people in those places.
Prostitution
- Makes prostitution a ‘protected class’ like race and disability.
- Removes laws protecting women, including against coercing a woman into prostitution.
- Permits public acts of prostitution, and soliciting prostitution beside a school or place of worship.
Commercial Surrogacy
- Allows and assists the commercialisation of surrogacy, including paying disadvantaged women in third world countries to bear a child who is then taken from them and brought to Australia.
Complexity
Note how large and complex this bill is. You might want to point out that it is 50 pages long, or that it makes over 80 changes to 20 different laws.
You could also say that the different issues in the bill are tangled up together, and there is no good way of passing parts of it without unintended consequences.
Your request
Ask the MP to reject the bill completely, and not try to cut it up or pass bits of it.
If the Government wants to address any of these issues, they should write their own legislation and consider each issue separately.
Conclude
Thank the MP for their attention.
Ensure you include your name and address. This is so the MP’s staff can confirm that you are a member of their electorate. Letters without an address are often ignored
Attach a summary
This summary document is designed for all MPs, as a summary of our concerns and requests. Print it out and include it in a mailed letter, or download it and attach it to an email.
We recommend you don’t simply put the link in your email, but make it an attachment. Attachments to emails are usually taken more seriously than links.
Example Letter
This letter is provided as an example. It is always best to write your own letter, however this example is based on a few of the discussion points above and is provided to help you start.
If you are basing your letter off this template, make sure you replace the sections in **[brackets]**
Dear [MLCs name],
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[write a paragraph about yourself, include what suburb you live in or how you are connected to the MP’s electorate. You might mention your family, your cultural background, your faith, what church or place of worship you attend]
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I am writing to express my concerns regarding the Equality Bill introduced by Alex Greenwich. This bill proposes several changes that could have significant implications for various sectors of our society. The bill suggests removing protections for faith-based schools and any religious institutions that are considered to be providing services to the general public. Faith-based schools and institutions have long played an important role in our communities, offering education and support while also upholding specific religious values. By stripping away these protections, the bill threatens to undermine the very principles that these institutions are built upon.
Alarmingly, the bill also permits individuals as young as 16 years old to change their sex on their birth certificate at will, regardless of their biological attributes or any surgical procedures. This raises substantial concerns about the potential for hasty decisions that may have long-term repercussions on young people’s lives. The ability to make such a significant change should come with considerable deliberation and, ideally, be based on a comprehensive understanding of the implications involved.
Moreover, the bill's provisions would force schools, prisons, places of worship, and other women's spaces to treat individuals according to their newly-declared sex. This mandate could have wide-ranging repercussions on the privacy, safety, and comfort of other individuals using these spaces. The potential for conflict and discomfort in settings designed to be supportive and secure for women should not be underestimated.
Given these profound concerns, I urge you to reject the Equality Bill in its entirety. The proposed changes not only jeopardise the integrity of religious institutions but also raise significant issues around the welfare and rights of both young people and women in our society. It is crucial that legislation protects all individuals without compromising the fundamental values and safety of our communities.
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[enter your name, address and phone number. This adds weight to your letter.]
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