PREPARING AUSTRALIA
The MP letter kit -- read me first

preparingaustralia.au
preparingaustralia@gmail.com


WHAT THIS IS

A ready-to-personalise letter asking your federal MP to put one question
on the parliamentary record: will the Australian Government commission a
Health Needs Assessment on disclosure preparedness?

You do not have to believe anything to send it. The ask is preparedness,
not belief. Every claim in this kit sits on the documented record only:
government archives, parliamentary answers, and published institutional
research.


WHAT TO SEND

Two files. That is all.

  1. Your letter, personalised.
  2. The one-page briefing (PDF).

Attach nothing else. A short letter with one clear ask and one attachment
is far more likely to be read and acted on than a long one with a reading
list. Everything else here is background for you, not for your MP.


HOW TO DO IT, IN FIVE MINUTES

  1. Find your MP at aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members. Search by postcode.

  2. Download "Letter to your MP" and open it. It opens in Word, Pages,
     Google Docs or LibreOffice. Fill in the square brackets: your MP's
     name, your electorate, and one sentence about yourself. The rest is
     tested wording. Please do not rewrite it.

  3. Paste it into an email. Attach the one-page briefing.

  4. Send it from your own email address, with your suburb and postcode in
     the signature. Letters from real constituents are what carry weight.
     A form letter from outside the electorate carries almost none.

  5. Tell us it went. Email preparingaustralia@gmail.com with your
     electorate, so follow-up is coordinated rather than duplicated. We do
     not add you to anything.


THE ONE SENTENCE THAT MATTERS

If you write only one thing in your own words, make it the sentence about
who you are and why you live where you live. Staffers sort mail by whether
it comes from a real person in the electorate. That sentence is the whole
difference.


WHAT IS AVAILABLE HERE

  Read me first             this file
  Letter to your MP         the main letter. Start here.
  Letter to your Senators   optional. Senators represent your whole
                            state, so anyone in the state can write.
  Questions for your MP     the exact question wording, for an office
                            that says yes and asks what to lodge.
  One-page briefing (PDF)   the attachment. This is what you send.
  Position paper (PDF)      background. Do not attach it.

The living literature review is deliberately not part of this kit. It is a
long reference document and it is not something to send to an MP. It is in
the research library on the website if you want it.


IF YOUR MP SAYS YES

Send the office "Questions for your MP". It carries the exact wording for
both a Question Time question and a question on notice. A question on
notice is the easier yes and the better information engine. About fifteen
minutes of staffer time, and everything is already drafted.


IF YOUR MP SAYS NO, OR SAYS NOTHING

That is normal and it is still useful. Tell us what happened. A recorded
no from a named office is worth more to the campaign than silence, and it
tells us where to try a different portfolio or a senator instead.


A FEW RULES WE HOLD OURSELVES TO

  One ask per letter. Never stack asks.
  Documented sources only. No allegations, no named individuals accused.
  Never suggest an office is covering anything up. The frame is simply
  that Australia should do its own homework.

Please hold to these when you write. They are the reason this letter can
be forwarded by any staffer to any minister without anyone risking
anything, and that is the entire strategy.


Preparing Australia is convened by Michelle McAllister.
preparingaustralia.au