Leveraging Parliament: Tools for Impact

CIP convention 2025: Cathy McGowan AO in conversation with Cade Smith, Fiona Scott and Peter George MP

Possible strategies for accessing and feeding back to MPs:

• traditional media
• online strategies,
• delegations to Parliament,
• letter writing,
• MP speeches (give them ideas and content):
• MP questions for Question Time (give them question ideas),
• Parliamentary Friends Groups (opportunities for bi-partisan movement on items of common interest)
• Parliamentary Library (good resources)
• Standing Committees, (all MPs involved in them - find out what and follow up)
• Events in Canberra and beyond,
• petitions.

The session included practical tips, what works, and what doesn’t.

Tips for eeting with MPs

• Know your topic. Research MPs knowledge on topic, produce a concise framing of the issue
• Say grievances politely - get AI to help condense it.
• What do you want them to do.
• Establish a relationship.
• Make sure they know how you want them to vote on an issue

Never underestimate the impact of grassroots activism

Andrew Wilkie’s website is a good resource - how he gets community support and how they work with him.

Follow-up issue

Using Claude AI to put up artifacts - points to think about.

Posted by Murray. Last modified: 23 Nov 2025.