>From my experience with Ministers' offices, communications from the public
are considered in terms of potential votes for and against. A petition,
regardless of how many signatories, was considered to represent 20 votes.
A letter was 5 votes, so 4 letters carried the same weight as a petition.
However, campaign letters are not treated as seriously as one-off letters
from concerned citizens.
The best chance of influencing politicians will come from individual
letters or emails that reflect concern about an issue rather than being
part of a campaign to change something.
Cheers
David
On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 11:34 AM, Dave Torr <> wrote:
> I agree - and that was in the old days when a petition was the result of
> hard work standing outside shopping centres etc and where there was a
> reasonable chance that at least some of the names were accurate!
> Now a politician would have no idea if the petitioners were even "local" to
> the area (or even if they were real people!) - and whilst of course anyone
> is entitled to have a view on a subject even if they don't live in the area
> a politician usually responds only if they feel that their chance of
> re-election may be affected!
>
>
> On 8 May 2014 11:12, david robertson <> wrote:
>
> > The problem with petitions is that although they create a feel-good
> > feeling,
> > they don't work. I remember the late Don Chip, who was then the leader
> of
> > the Democrats, describing what happened to petitions. They are wheeled
> in
> > to Parliament just before the start of Parliamentary business for the
> day.
> > The MPs are studying the order of business and chatting to each other.
> A
> > MP moves that permission be granted to receive the petition. Permission
> is
> > granted.
> >
> > They are then wheeled away to the basement and never heard of again.
> 'But
> > I
> > tell you, if any politician receives 50 individual letters (not form
> ones),
> > he will be in my office next morning, saying "You must do something about
> > X.
> > There's a groundswell out there.."
> >
> > The solution is obvious.
> >
> > David Robertson
> >
> > Adelaide
> >
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