Grasstops Lobbying: Step 2 Research
The second step is to research your:
Member(s) of Parliament
Local area
Local impacts
We know your time is precious - doing research ahead of time will help your team find ways to connect with your MPs; highlight voices that will be most persuasive, and create a more methodical approach to balance your priorities.
These tools will help you balance knowing what to prioritise, in terms of where you already have active leads through your Group’s connections and who may be most strategic to contact to influence your MPs.
Research Your MPs
Before you start researching your Member(s) of Parliament, consult your Group Leader and/or Group’s Liaison to understand what information may already exist. Work with them to document and update an MP Bio for your Federal and State MPs, based on research in three key areas.
1. Legislative Profile
Find out about your Member’s stance on party issues, what leadership they have in the party, what committees they serve on, what causes or policies they champion, etc. Use a search engine to check their campaign website, social media accounts, and any other relevant sources of information.
Helpful resources:
Open Politics Australia - specifically under the ‘Memberships/Office holder or donor’ section of your MP’s profile page
APH: Search for Members
2. Professional Profile
Find out about your Member’s background, what their religious beliefs are, what schools/universities they attended, what their profession was ahead of Parliament, what clubs and interests they still participate in, etc.
For your Member’s previous positions held, who did they work with?
What Boards do they sit on? Can you influence other members of that board to help move them?
Do you or your Group have connections to family or friends that also attended that school/university, alumni, or organisations?
What connections does your Group have to the civic or religious organisations your Member belongs to?
3. Personal Profile
Find out about the background behind your Member’s key staff, family/spouse/relatives, donors, peers in Parliament, and community connections back in their home electorate.
Which other elected officials do they look up to or are friendly with in their party and across the aisle?
Who gives them endorsements during the campaign? Those are good groups to approach because the Member will want them to re-endorse next election cycle.
Research Your Local Area
Local Governments (Councils) will often have reports on their website. For example: City of Ryde’s Social Plan 2019-24.
Research Your Local Impacts
Who are the biggest employers in your electorate? How will they be impacted by climate change? Set meetings and see if you can work together about how they are planning for climate change or dealing with it already.
What are the unique impacts in your electorate/state? Who are some unusual voices that may be impacted who could speak? (First Nations organisations, skiing examples, fishing, farming, etc.)
What industries are most likely to be impacted down the line? Begin reaching out to connect, learn from them, and highlight the impacts your community faces.
How do your findings from your research about your local area relate to the local impacts and solutions? For example, if population growth in your local area is forecasted to place greater strain on available and affordable health services, in which ways will the health impacts caused by climate change further exacerbate this issue?
Further reading:
All the articles in this playbook on Grasstops Lobbying have been extracted from a document titled The Ultimate Guide to Grasstops Engagement. It contains a very comprehensive list of resources to help you become an effective lobbyist and is highly recommended reading. The full version is available to CCL members and on request.