NSW
Write to your MP
Look up your local MP in the form below for a detailed guide
to writing to them with targeted talking points
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If you have already written to your local MP, you can have further impact by writing to Members of the Legislative Council.
Writing your letter
By Post
The most impactful letter is one that has been printed out or hand-written and sent through the post. Send to:
MP not found
By Email
A personally written email is also very effective. You can send the email to
MP not found
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 MP not found,
or Dear MP not found,
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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 deep concerns about the Equality Bill currently being considered. This bill, in its present form, poses significant threats to faith-based institutions by removing crucial protections provided by the Anti-Discrimination Act. With these protections hollowed out, faith-based organisations would be vulnerable to constant complaints of discrimination. Judges, rather than the institutions themselves, would be left to decide what constitutes “reasonable” faith. This undermines the autonomy and integrity of faith-based institutions, which are essential to many communities in our state.
The bill also proposes to allow young people from the age of 16 to change their sex on their birth certificate at will, irrespective of biological factors or any surgical procedures. Allowing such changes without stringent criteria can lead to confusion and potential misuse. The legal recognition of one’s sex is a serious matter, and any changes to this should be approached with caution and proper consideration of the broader implications.
Furthermore, the bill mandates that schools, prisons, places of worship, and other women’s spaces must treat individuals as their newly-declared sex. This requirement does not adequately consider the impact on others in these spaces. It is crucial to ensure that the rights and safety of all individuals, including women and girls who use these spaces, are preserved.
Given these significant issues, I urge you to reject the Equality Bill in its current form. The repercussions of passing this legislation would be far-reaching and detrimental to various segments of our society. It is imperative that the bill be reconsidered and reformed to protect the rights and integrity of individuals and institutions alike.
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[enter your name, address and phone number. Your address is needed so MPs know you are legitimately from their electorate.]
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