Our Federal Election Strategy (10 mins)

The first step to becoming a spokesperson for Australian Parents for Climate Action is understanding why the upcoming federal election is a key opportunity for achieving more climate action. 

What needs to change:

• Bi-partisan support for climate action: to shift the politics into support for climate action from all politicians and their parties.

• Rapid, urgent progress: for short-term action and medium-term targets that see Australia do its fair share of global climate action now.

• Reframing climate action and the transition to a net-zero economy as a valuable opportunity for Australia. For our children's sake, we must create the jobs of the future. We don't want Australia to get left behind, and we need to support all regional communities in a fair transition, through government investment into renewable energy zones and industrial precincts. Australia can become a renewable energy superpower. 

The Strategy: How we do it:

• Raising parent voices: all over Australia, the majority of voters want climate action and together, parents can amplify their voice to create the political will to act on climate, and make climate action a priority election issue.

• Mobilise and empower our active volunteers to engage the wider audience of parents who are concerned about climate change, by normalising climate conversations, being media spokespeople, and meeting with MPs.

• Localise our national asks: our active parents can speak to what the local climate change issues are, and how climate action will help their local community and economy. In particular, our active parents can advocate for local benefits of our Solar Our Schools plan.

Our Federal Election Asks:

• Do our bit in the global community: A legislated plan to reduce Australia’s emissions by 75% on 2005 levels, including 100% clean energy by 2030. 

• The first step towards a clean economy: Solar Our Schools with funding for solar and batteries for all schools and early childhood centres in Australia and support for them to be 'virtual power plants’.

The Tactics: How we’re going to make change happen:

• Engage our communities

  • Community events and forums (online or in-person) that get the community talking about climate action

  • Having Climate Conversations: with those not yet active on climate

  • Climate Action Now signs: Making the call for climate action visible on the streets

• Media: Change the story 

  • Local media stories with trained parent spokespeople sharing their stories

  • Sharing positive solutions with more people online 

  • Joining forces with partners as part of the Together We can Movement

• Lobby: show MPs and candidates we want climate action

  • Candidate forums: to profile candidate commitment

  • Meeting candidates: and MPs to deliver our message

  • Writing to MPs: to ask them to pledge their support 

Tone and style: 

• Consistent branding

  • Shareable and modifiable brand assets for all network purposes

• Positive, respectful, and solutions-focussed

  • Our campaign will play a constructive role in transforming climate discourse into positive solutions and benefits framing and affecting major party discourse

• Non-partisan: We are proudly non-partisan - this is a core value for Australian Parents for Climate Action. Let’s find common ground. Let’s make climate action inclusive of all sides of politics.

 

The second step in this spokes training program is to find out why AP4CA is non-partisan (part 3 of our spokesperson training course).

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