Tasmania
Meet with your MP
This guide is designed to help you through the steps to making a meeting with your local Members of Parliament, and talking to them about the draft “Conversion Practices” bill.
Understand the purpose
The overall purpose of this meeting is to build a positive connection with your local State MP, and to make them aware of the issues around the legislation and that a large number of members of their electorate are concerned about them.
You do not have to have all the facts or answers. The purpose of your meeting is to show your MP that people in their electorate know about the issue, are concerned, and are likely to have their vote affected by it.
This meeting is also an opportunity to build a productive and loving relationship with your MP.
Who to meet with
The Tasmanian system makes it harder to decide who to meet with. You are in a House of Assembly (lower house) electorate that has 7 MP elected to represent it, and you are also in a Legislative Council electorate with one representative.
Ultimately, we need to convince a majority of members in both the House of Assembly and the Legislative Council to reject the legislation.
If you cannot arrange meetings with all eight MPs, do not concentrate on those who are already likely to agree with you. Instead, identify the two or three MPs who may be undecided, open to persuasion or influential within their party. A respectful meeting with an undecided MP is likely to have more impact than a meeting with someone who already opposes the legislation.
Prioritise meetings with Labor and Liberal MPs.
If the Government allows the bill to go to a vote, it can be passed with a coalition of Greens and Labor MPs, so it is most important to convince the Goverment not to progress the bill, and convince Labor to reject it.
Find your MPs' details
Search in the text box below to find your House of Assembly and Legislative Council MPs. Click on a name for contact details.
Plan your timing
This issue is particularly urgent, since we do not know when this legislation is going to be brought before Parliament.
In our suggested email below, we suggest that you ask for a meeting as soon as possible.
Even if it is difficult to get a meeting with your MP quickly, the fact that you have asked for one is a powerful indicator of your concern.
Identify potential attendees
Next, decide what kind of people you think should be at the meeting. This depends on what approach you are planning to take. Possble types of meetings could be:
- Just you with the MP – especially effective if there is a pre-existing relationship.
- A group of ministers or leaders of faith groups, representing the faith communities of the electorate.
- Leaders and members from one church or community (about 3-8 people).
- Parents concerned about raising their children
If your MP is a Government Minister, they are likely to be much more busy and harder to get a meeting with. The opportunity to meet with a number of faith leaders simultaneously would be an attractive offer for them.
A non-minister (called a “back-bencher”) would have more time and desire to build direct relationships with individual faith leaders and communities.
Local faith leaders and church ministers represent their communities. They can speak about the size of their community and how important this issue is to their community. An MP should take a meeting with a faith leader or group of leaders seriously. However, there can be skepticism as to whether a leader truly represents their community’s views on this issue, so a meeting with representatives of the membership of a church or community can be very effective.
Parents are great spokespeople for their families, and primary carers speaking passionately about their concerns for their children is powerful.
Attendees would need to be able to attend a meeting during daytime hours.
Discuss the possibility of the meeting with your potential attendees. You may wish to share resources like the letter and talking points to brief those you’d like to invite to the meeting.
Make your appointment
You can call the MP’s office, or email them. Contact details are at the top of the page.
If you have not met with your MP previously or do not have an existing relationship with them, then you may wish to send a more formal email asking for a meeting. You can find a sample letter below. If possible, we suggest you re-work this letter in your own words. However, there is nothing wrong with using the template as-is.
Follow up the email three days later with a phone call if you have not received a response from your MP.
Sample appointment request email (click to open)
[A sentence or two to introduce yourself and the community you represent (church, school, organisation etc).]
I am writing to seek a meeting with you to discuss the Greens’ draft “Conversion Practices Ban” bill and to share with you some of the concerns of the community in your electorate.
We are very concerned that the draft legislation will criminalise mainstream religious teaching and prayer, with little protections for parents and faith communities.
Since the draft bill has already been released, I would be grateful if you were able to meet at your earliest convenience, so that you have time to consider our concerns before the bill is introduced.
Yours sincerely,
[Sign]
Prepare your resources
This letter has been written by faith leaders to all MPs to point out concerns with the draft legislation. Print it out and give it to your MP at your meeting.
You can also use the document as the basis of your conversation, by talking through the main points.
At the meeting
Introduce yourself
Start by introducing yourselves and thanking your MP for taking the time to meet with you. Make sure they know who everyone is and understand who you represent. Explain what organisations you are from, where they are, and how many people are members. Also tell them what schools you are connected to, where they are, and approximately how many students attend.
Do not be afraid
MPs are just people, and you can talk to them like everyone else. It is very unlikely that they will be hostile, or even unpleasant to you. If they didn’t want to hear from you they would not have arranged the meeting in the first place. Politicians are also in the business of making friends in their electorate, so they are most likely to be friendly, even if they disagree with you in the end.
Be respectful
Remember to speak clearly, politely, and audibly and maintain good eye contact.
Keep on topic
Keep to the talking points and the issue that is the purpose of the meeting. MPs have limited time, and we can respect them by keeping to the point. Introducing other issues can confuse the conversation and leave the MP unclear as to what we are talking about.
Keep to time
It is likely that you will only have a short amount of time to discuss your issue, so it is important to be clear and concise. You could ask how much time they have to talk. As a rule, 30 minutes is a common appointment length, but they ,may be willing to talk for longer.
Make sure you finish on time. If possible, aim to finish with a couple of minutes spare, so that the MP is not pressured to move to their next meeting.
Listen
Start by asking the MP what they know of the legislation, and what they think of it. This sets a positive and collaborative tone. It also help you tailor what you are saying to where they are at.
Your MP might be completely new to this issue. There is so much legislation happening at any one time that most MPs only think about it a week before the vote. Ask if they have any questions and help them understand the issue as much as you can. Don’t be afraid of saying you do not know the answer to the question. You are not there to be an expert, but a concerned member of their electorate.
When you raise your concerns, take time to listen to the response. The MP may have been given a series of ‘talking points’ on the issue that may or may not answer your particular concern. If not, gently say that it was not quite what you were asking and re-word.
Ask for a commitment
Don’t be afraid to ask for a commitment, and don’t try to be indirect. Politicians are used to being asked what they think and what they are going to do, and they will appreciate clear concise requests.
Commit to reporting back
This is a very important step, that is sometimes skipped by faith communities.
If the MP is meeting with you as a representative of a larger community of faith, it is important that you make the communication channel 2-way, and commit to telling your community what the outcomes of the meeting were. This way the MP will know that they have an opportunity to speak (through you) with a large part of their electorate.
Some people might feel uncomfortable using their faith community as a ‘platform’ to talk about a politician, because it might be considered acting in a partisan way.
However, the purpose of the sharing is not about promoting a politician, but documenting the commitment that they made so that they can be held to it, and thanking them for their support. Publicly thanking people is a great way of encouraging them, and politicians are no different.
If your MP does not believe that what they say will be conveyed to your wider community, they have less incentive to take the conversation seriously.
Optional: take a photo
One option of communicating to your community is to take a photo with the MP. This photo can be shared on social media or in a newsletter with some text thanking the MP for the meeting and their support for freedom of religion (if they gave any).
The MP may also want to take a photo and post it on their social media, thanking you for the meeting. If they post positive comments about the meeting, then it reinforces in their mind your place in the community and the importance of your concerns.
Discussion points
The most effective way of guiding the conversation is to talk through the letter from the heads of faith with the MP.
You can also explain how your community engages with issues of gender and sexuality. Explain how you care for
After the meeting: follow up
Follow Up With A Letter To The MP’s Office
An email is a good way of following up, but the way that correspondence is handled by MPs offices means that a more formal letter will generally be treated more seriously. We suggest:
- A written letter (on letterhead, if coming from a church or organisation)
- Emailed as a PDF attachment, with the hand-outs also attached
- Also printed and posted with the hand-outs printed and included.
When writing the letter
- Thank the MP for the meeting
- Remind them of the groups represented in the meeting, and the number of members.
- Reiterate the requests made in the meeting
- Thank them for any commitments they made
Update Your Community
If you have committed to communicating back to your commuity about the outcomes of the meeting, it is important to do so. If the MP has made some commitments, it is important to thank them for those commitments, and allow your community to know of them. It can also help to let the MP know that you have communicated back. For instance, if you use a newsletter to give an update on the conversation, you could send a copy to the MP’s office. If you took a photo, post it on social media and tag the MP so they can see it too.