Federal Election 2007 Lobbying Campaign

At the recent conference in Sydney, National President, Cori Williams, announced the launch of a national lobbying campaign, timed to target politicians in the lead up to the federal election. 

The aim of our lobbying is to have speech pathology issues sufficiently discussed and recognised so that the government takes action and adopts Speech Pathology Australia’s position as public policy.

Three key Issue Statements have been developed for the following positions:

• Mandated speech pathology services for all children with speech and/or language disorders
• Improved access to speech pathology services in rural and remote Australia
• Medicare Allied Health Initiative consultation limits and rebate levels to be extended for speech pathology services.

These Issue Statements succinctly describe the issues and provide the solution we wish the government to take up. 

2007 Lobbying Statement

A Lobbying Campaign Action Plan has been developed which outlines specific actions and timelines. The plan will link Practice, Workplace and Government, Public Affairs, Member Networks, National Office and Council and Branch activities to present a coordinated approach to the lobbying campaign. Monitoring of parliament and the media will occur so that the Association can readily respond to relevant policies and issues policies that are canvassed.  A media campaign will also be implemented to support the promotion of our Issue Statements.

PWG Leaders in each state will adapt the national plan and coordinate state-based activities.

Click here to view the National Lobbying Action Plan and the specific Branch Lobbying Plans.  

This is an exciting development for our Association and the success of our campaign will be maximised by member support and energy in this critical period leading up to the election. To support member activity we are developing specific lobbying material, with particular emphasis on proforma letters for contact with politicians and in engaging supportive community groups, along with press releases for media approaches. In this first stage, proforma politician letters are now available and can be found on the Lobby Campaign for National Registration webpage.

For details on how you can support this lobbying campaign, please contact the PWG Leader in your Branch.