Let’s talk tactics

If you want to see our local member and our Australia Government working to reduce the impacts of climate change rather than denying the problem or ignoring it, please read on.

There is a role for you.

The challenge

The Hughes electorate is a safe Liberal seat. Last election, Craig Kelly MP won about 53% of the primary vote.

If we want to be represented by an MP who is committed to addressing climate change (not to mention other issues dear to many of us), we need to see a very significant change in voting.

Strategy

Change isn’t just going to happen. Our electorate seems to be conservative and unlikely to change voting habits unless something shifts in their thinking.

Just sniping away amongst ourselves about Craig Kelly’s behaviour isn’t going to achieve much either.

To make a difference, we have to sway a significant number of current Liberal voters.

How could this be achieved?

We can learn from the successful campaigns to elect Independent candidates in the electorates of Indi and Warringah.

Softly, softly

Controversy, anger, mocking and personal attacks tend to polarise people rather than sway them. To win hearts and minds, we need to be “positive, polite and prepared” and respectful. Make people feel it is safe to support us and to be involved.

The Indi campaign “requires ‘being your best self’ as a representative or a constituent by engaging respectfully, transparently and in a way that invites others to participate.”

Show, don’t tell

Criticising our current representative is likely to make supporters defensive and polarise them.

If we want to make change, we need to show people the facts and let them draw their own conclusions. Being in their faces and telling them what to think is likely to be counter-productive.

Positive values

We’ll make a better impression and better represent our own values if we:

• have a positive program of what we want to achieve;
• stress that we are part of the local community and represent community values (which means we need to know what our Hughes community actually values); and
• are well-informed using reputable sources of information.

Discipline

If we are going to be effective in all this, we will need to be disciplined. It is always tempting to lash out, but keeping to this ethos will work best for most voters, especially older ones. (Younger voters may be more open to humour, satire and direct criticism.)

How Hughes Fact Check fits in

This website attempts to follow this ethos.

• We try to write objectively and factually.
• We try to give the facts and leave people to draw their own conclusions.
• We treat opposing viewpoints and people with respect.

Our aim is to show that Craig Kelly MP presents false information about climate change and some other issues. We try to keep personal criticism to a minimum and let the facts speak for themselves.

We hope that this will lead to a slow but sure improvement in understanding of those who read, leading to a stronger commitment to support climate action.

And, in the end, we hope this will lead to Liberal voters wanting a representative who will also work for effective climate action.

How you can be part of this

This approach will only be effective if the information gets out there, and doesn’t just stay in the group who already support the cause.

This means as many people as possible sharing the content widely, as all our social networks will contain people who currently vote Liberal. To assist with this I have:

• set up a Facebook page for Hughes Fact Check;
• used visual “memes” to give a simple text message in a colourful, noticeable way (see example below), so that if it is shared on social media, people will get the main message even if they don’t read the post; and
• put notices of new posts on other sympathetic Facebook pages and groups.

Will you join in please?

Hughes Fact Check is just one part of a broader community-based move to elect a local MP who will act on climate change and better represent the local community.

Will you be part of this initiative?

Will you commit to sharing posts from this website or the Hughes Fact Check Facebook page on your social networks?

If enough people commit to this, thousands of Hughes electors will see these facts and hopefully start to consider them. This will hopefully be part of the bigger change we all want to see.

Thanks.

---

Photo by Ba Tik from Pexels.