Julie Cowdroy, our expert in politics has written of her experience of lobbying her local member. He didn’t show up though. Perhaps that is because he’s the alternative PM. Julie writes
Julie Cowdroy
A couple of weeks ago I wrote in a post on Mamamia that what was important to me in the upcoming Federal election was the issue of foreign aid.
So when I learned that Make Poverty History were holding electoral forums in various electorates, I logged onto the website to see if my local seat of Warringah was included. I discovered there was going to be a forum. The candidates from the ALP and the Greens had confirmed their attendance, while an invitation to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who is our local member, was left unanswered.
The day before the forum, I decided to call Mr Abbott’s office to find out if he was going to be there. Obviously, I knew the answer would be no. After all, he is on the campaign trail and Warringah is one of the safest seats in Australia with the Liberals holding a tight grip on the electorate since the party formed in 1944. Still I thought it would be a good exercise in democracy. And to be able to ring my local member’s office about an issue I cared about, seemed pretty reasonable, so hey, why not? I spoke to three different women from Abbott’s offices in Manly and Canberra and was put on hold numerous times, but the two calls needed to get information went something like this.
“Hi, I was just wondering if Mr Abbott had accepted an invitation by Make Poverty History to attend a local electoral forum on global poverty in Manly tomorrow.”
Silence. “Who are you? Where are you calling from?”
“I live in the area and wanted to know if Mr Abbott was coming to an electoral forum. Hugh Zochling from the ALP and Matthew Drake-Brockman from the Greens are both coming. Is Mr Abbott coming?”
More silence. “Did he receive an invitation?”
“The Make Poverty History website says he was invited so I was calling to see if he had accepted the invitation.”
“Can I put you on hold?”
I waited and then I was put through to another woman and I asked my question again and got the same reply.
“What organisation are you calling from?”
Obviously Abbott’s staffers were on high alert due to the election being a couple of weeks away. Still the suspicion amused me. What?! You are simply a concerned constituent calling from your residential address to see if your local member is going to be answering questions about an issue you care about at a local community forum? Madness!! Almost like they never receive calls like this. Um, isn’t this the way representative democracy is supposed to work? Guess not. Back to the call.
“He’s currently in Tasmania but a Liberal representative will be there.”
“Could you tell me who the representative will be?”
“I’m sorry we can’t disclose that information.”
I see…
So Saturday afternoon we made our way to the community hall where about 50 people had gathered. Two candidates sat up the front ready to engage with us local voters. Sure enough the host announced that after much effort to get a Liberal Party representative to the forum, it was to no avail.
No matter, we would have the opportunity to speak with the representatives of the other two parties. At question and answer time, I was brave enough to ask a question. Greens candidate Matthew Drake-Brockman answered according to his party line, while ALP’s Hugh Zochling said he was unaware of the ALP’s position on my particular query so would take my question on notice and get my contact details at the close of the forum. When the session wrapped up, Mr Zochling strolled straight past me out the door. Needless to say, he didn’t take my details. I guess he had better things to do. Like campaign on issues that are important to local voters….
What has been your experience with your local member? Do you know anything about the local candidates? Live in a safe seat? If so, are your members apathetic to what concerns you?
