Grassroots advocacy is a powerful force for change, and every voice matters.

Every voice adds pressure and advocacy is most powerful when we sing as a choir.

So we are asking for you as individuals to make your voices heard by contacting your local state and federal members of parliament.

Here is a template that you can follow for a letter, but we ask that you please personalise it to some degree because we have been advised that letters are scanned and less weight is given to those letters that follow identical templates. 

• Find your state electorate below and then click through to find your local member and google for their email address. NSW here, Queensland here, SA here ,WA here, Victoria here, Tasmania here, ACT here, NT here
• You can look up your federal electorate here. Click through to find out who the local member is, then google for their email address. 
• Federal senators (representing all of NSW, or all of Victoria etc) can be found here. Here is a list of federal senators of all states. Choose those representing the state you live in.  

Dear [local member]

I’m a constituent and live in [suburb]. Are you aware that not every school in our area has a library? A recent report from the Dymocks Children’s Charities revealed widespread underfunding, critical staffing shortage, and outdated collections and book budgets of $0 in Australian schools.  

(Here’s more on the Dymocks report if you want to quote)

At a time when we are in the midst of a reading crisis, and as Australia registers its worst ever PISA results, we need every school in the (state or country, depending on who you are emailing) to have a library and qualified teacher-librarian and a budget for books. 

(Here’s some options for what you might ask for - and it’s important to include an ‘ask’)

• I’d like to meet with you to find out how I can help you to lobby for this in parliament.
• What is your party’s policy on the matter of mandating libraries and teacher-librarians in all schools
• Can I provide you with more information so you can make a statement on your social media? 
• Can we invite you to our library to see what’s at stake (showing them a thriving library and then letting them there is none of this at the state school down the road). 
• Can you please facilitate a meeting with Minister (Clare for federal, or relevant state education minister’s) office [the education minister in NSW is Prue Car). 

Thank you for making your voice heard!

Martha Itzcovitz 
President