Organize Letter Writing Campaigns Directed at Australian Parliament Members via Action Network

In the world of Australian politics, understanding Parliamentary Committees is a crucial step for advocates looking to make their voices heard. This article aims to shed light on these committees and guide you on how to utilise them effectively, as well as introduce you to Action Network, a powerful tool designed for progressive campaigners.

Action Network is a versatile platform that allows users to engage communities, build power, and contact decision makers. It has proven to be particularly useful for letter campaigns targeting Australian Members of Parliament (MPs). To adapt Action Network for such campaigns, you would need to leverage its ability to create sponsored "event campaigns" or action campaigns with custom targeting.

To start, you'll want to upload or use custom target data with Shapefiles. While Action Network’s help documentation does not explicitly describe shapefile imports, you can upload custom event locations or targets via spreadsheets. For geographic targeting by MPs (e.g., electoral boundaries), you would prepare your shapefile data externally to generate postal codes, electorates, or coordinates, then translate those into a CSV format compatible with Action Network’s import tools.

Once you have your CSVs ready, you can create custom fields and tags for personalisation. Use Action Network’s custom fields feature to store data such as MP names, electorate areas, or other relevant info. Then use “clips” to personalise emails and letters dynamically based on these fields, e.g., inserting a specific MP’s name or address in the letter.

With your custom fields and tags in place, you can set up targeted actions based on these custom fields. Create targeted actions (or petitions, letter writing campaigns) where activists can enter their postcode or choose their MP constituency, allowing the system to select the correct MP target based on your custom data. Use tags or filters to ensure messages are sent to the right recipients tied to their electoral geography.

It's important to note that since shapefiles represent geographical boundaries, you may need to preprocess them externally using GIS tools—converting them to postcode or electorate code lists, which can then be uploaded to Action Network to associate activists with their MPs.

Custom targets in Action Network allow users to import a list of decision makers via CSV, which supporters can then contact. If users find any errors or wish to assist in keeping these files up to date, they can email [email protected].

The Australian Federal electorate shapefiles have been imported into Action Network as of July 2024. Users should test out the imported CSVs by making a letter campaign and checking the results. If any issues arise, they should contact [email protected].

In conclusion, while Action Network does not natively handle shapefiles directly, you adapt by converting shapefile data into postal codes or electorate identifiers and uploading that as custom fields or tags. Then, use these to personalise and target letter campaigns. Event campaigns require approval to access, but standard action campaigns with custom fields and tagging will achieve your goal of targeting Australian MPs through their electoral areas.

For further information, a list of eleven websites about the Australian Federal Government and MPs is available. Users are encouraged to share the up-to-date shapefiles with the Commons Library for use in progressive campaigns. A guide is available for making state or council electorate custom targets, or for updating the federal electorate guide if it is out of date due to boundary changes. Files are available for setting up letter campaigns for contacting Australian Members of Parliament MPs in various state and territorial parliaments, as well as the federal parliament.

Organize Letter Writing Campaigns Directed at Australian Parliament Members via Action Network