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The Salvation Army has written to new Federal Government members to highlight its key advocacy areas. And it’s urging you to do the same.

In the month leading up to the 18 May 2019 Federal Election, The Salvation Army Policy and Advocacy team launched a webpage providing information on five key issues that it believed politicians should act on to reduce disadvantage in Australia.

The issues highlighted were poverty, housing and homelessness, family violence, substance use disorders, and unemployment. We urged Australians to get in touch with their local candidates and ask what they were going to do, if elected, to alleviate poverty and inequality in Australia if elected. 

The election may be over but the Policy and Advocacy Team says there is still work to be done. 

The Salvation Army’s General Manager of Policy and Advocacy, Jennifer Kirkaldy, says letters have been sent to all 287 members of parliament, outlining The Salvation Army’s key issues. Personalised letters have been sent to all Federal Government ministers with portfolios that align with these issues. 

“The first thing The Salvation Army is focused on is making a very warm and clear connection with parliamentarians,” she says. “We have also requested meetings with each of the ministers where their portfolio interfaces with our priorities.”

Ms. Kirkaldy says everyone with a passion for The Salvation Army’s key policy areas should still write a letter to their local Federal member. “Providing real stories from an MP’s electorate is so valuable because they can use those stories to speak in parliament about the lived experience of, say, homelessness and poverty.

“If you write to your local MP about an issue you are passionate about, your MP can write to the Minister and get a response for you. Even if your MP is a backbencher it doesn’t mean that they don’t have influence – actually they can be very powerful in influencing their party’s thinking about an issue.”