The problem with petitions is that although they create a feel-good feeling, they don’t work. I remember the late Don Chip, who was then the leader of the Democrats, describing what happened to petitions. They are wheeled in to Parliament just before the start of Parliamentary business for the day. The MPs are studying the order of business and chatting to each other. A MP moves that permission be granted to receive the petition. Permission is granted. They are then wheeled away to the basement and never heard of again. ‘But I tell you, if any politician receives 50 individual letters (not form ones), he will be in my office next morning, saying “You must do something about X. There’s a groundswell out there..” The solution is obvious. David Robertson Adelaide _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
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5 responses to “Petitions”
The trouble with some (and I speak from experience) is that they’re relatively well-educated and therefore think they know all the answers. That was an issue when I was a member of Darwin City Council. Research? What was wrong with good old gut feeling? Denise Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71 Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841 PhD candidate Vice-chair Wildlife Tourism Australia goodfellow@bigpond.com.au On 8 May 2014, at 12:54 pm, Tony Russell <pratincole08@gmail.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
The other problem with petitions to pollies is that many of them can’t read and give the letters and petitions to their staff to sort out. T. —–Original Message—– david robertson Sent: Thursday, 8 May 2014 10:43 AM The problem with petitions is that although they create a feel-good feeling, they don’t work. I remember the late Don Chip, who was then the leader of the Democrats, describing what happened to petitions. They are wheeled in to Parliament just before the start of Parliamentary business for the day. The MPs are studying the order of business and chatting to each other. A MP moves that permission be granted to receive the petition. Permission is granted. They are then wheeled away to the basement and never heard of again. ‘But I tell you, if any politician receives 50 individual letters (not form ones), he will be in my office next morning, saying “You must do something about X. There’s a groundswell out there..” The solution is obvious. David Robertson Adelaide _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
From my experience with Ministers’ offices, communications from the public are considered in terms of potential votes for and against. A petition, regardless of how many signatories, was considered to represent 20 votes. A letter was 5 votes, so 4 letters carried the same weight as a petition. However, campaign letters are not treated as seriously as one-off letters from concerned citizens. The best chance of influencing politicians will come from individual letters or emails that reflect concern about an issue rather than being part of a campaign to change something. Cheers David On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 11:34 AM, Dave Torr <davidtorr@gmail.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
David , that’s generally the case up here as well, and I’d love people to send personal letters. But how many will? Dave, up here electorates are so small that MLA’s know many of their constituents personally. They certainly know me – I helped formulate CLP indigenous policy before the last election, at the request of Adam Giles, now Chief Minister. And a close friend was for a short time, president of the CLP. Their chances of re-election are on the line, now that Allison Anderson and two others have joined PUP. They stand to lose the rural vote, and there are at least eighty people in our electorate jumping up and down about this right now. Plus Aboriginal people in a nearby settlement are not happy either. Plus with so many visiting birders signing the petition, visitor numbers in Kakadu and Uluru still dropping, and our Tourism Minister under siege at the moment (I won’t go into details here), I think they’d be silly to ignore it. And if they do, I’ve a few more cards to play. Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71 Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841 PhD candidate Vice-chair Wildlife Tourism Australia goodfellow@bigpond.com.au On 8 May 2014, at 11:04 am, Dave Torr <davidtorr@gmail.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
I agree – and that was in the old days when a petition was the result of hard work standing outside shopping centres etc and where there was a reasonable chance that at least some of the names were accurate! Now a politician would have no idea if the petitioners were even “local” to the area (or even if they were real people!) – and whilst of course anyone is entitled to have a view on a subject even if they don’t live in the area a politician usually responds only if they feel that their chance of re-election may be affected! On 8 May 2014 11:12, david robertson <drdeath@picknowl.com.au> wrote: _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org