I’ve actually been ill today, so I didn’t manage to write as many letters as I meant to. I’m hoping to do a bit of blitz of Senators tomorrow, but I have covered some of the main suspects at least. I understand that the Plebiscite is being debated in Parliament this week, possibly even this evening, so I went with emails rather than postal letters this time.
As usual, having written the letters, I find them entirely inadequate, but I’m posting them here for two reasons. Well, one reason, with two parts. The reason is, of course, that I’m hoping some of you will also feel inclined to write to your politicians, and sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. Feel free to use these as a starting point – it’s easier to fix a bad letter than to write one from scratch, in my experience.
It’s also sometimes hard to decide that a letter is good enough to send, and that’s the other reason I’m posting these. I want to write the perfect letter, which will cause politicians to realise, at last, that they have made a terrible mistake and should be doing things differently (ie, my way…). In the real world, that’s not going to happen. Or at least, not through me – I am definitely not that eloquent. But at least part of this is a numbers game. A letter that does not perfectly express what you want to say is still a letter in someone’s inbox, reminding them that another one of their constituents opposes the plebiscite. And you never know – your letter of support to a politician who is doing the write thing may be the encouragement they need, or may provide them with an argument or phrase that they hadn’t thought of and can use to sway others. But even if it doesn’t, every little bit helps.
You can find contact lists for all Senators and MPs at this link. These include phone numbers, postal and email addresses, so pick the medium of your choice and go for it.
If letters are too hard write now, the ALP has a campagin ‘It’s Time for Marriage Equality‘, which is half petition, half tweet, and certainly worth a look. The Greens have a similar campaign. And Australian Marriage Equality have all sorts of actions you can take, depending on your time, energy and financial resources.
And if you just need a break from all of this, here’s a link I found earlier when I was looking (unsuccessfully) for some information about my local Member. It’s the 404 page for The Australian‘s National Affairs section, and it is absolutely hilarious. Enjoy!
Letters below the cut…
