Making an effort makes a difference

Interview With Mark Newton of Internode Re: Australian Internet Filter

There are a number of things, I think writing letters to MP’s is probably more effective than email campaigns. I think the typical MP will look at the amount of effort that a citizen expended to express their point of view and judge that point of view accordingly, and if someone has just fired off a 3 minute email message or clicked the box to join an online petition or something like that, I’m not sure if that’s really worth much. On the other hand writing a real letter on real paper and putting it in a real envelope and using a real stamp and putting it into a real mailbox will get your voice heard a lot more effectively. Another thing I suspect we found during the last election that we might need another cycle or 2 to decide and to evaluate it, is that organisations like Get Up have an effect because they get heard in the halls of power in Canberra. Get Up have a campaign address, I’m not affiliated with them but I’ve noted that on their website they have a campaign address you can send to campaigns@getup.org.au. I’m sure that if they get enough public response out of petitions they’ll take it up because that’s what they’re for. That’s what they do, they take issues where the government has pitted itself against citizens and they represent citizens to the government.