2008 People’s Agenda
People’s Agenda Update: May
We’re now into the second quarter of 2008, so here’s a quick update on your ‘People’s Agenda’:
Your Donations
With the more than $57,000 you contributed to our ‘People’s Agenda’ fundraiser, we were able to invest in our campaigning capacity for the year to come. Thanks to your donations we have been able to hire both a climate change campaigner and an economic fairness campaigner (to work on health, education and poverty) to join our campaigns team. We will be campaigning across the range of issues in the ‘People’s Agenda’ throughout the course of this Parliament, and these new staff will allow us to deliver great campaigns and follow through with sustained lobbying. Thank you!
Campaigns
Together we set our priorities, and together we’re putting them into action.
Environment
Emissions Targets – We’re calling on the Government to take bold action on climate change: to set an emissions reduction target of 50% of 1990 levels by 2020, and to ensure Australia’s emissions begin declining by 2010. Sign our new petition here.
Clean Energy – In the lead up to the Federal Budget, we’ve called on the Treasurer to cut more than $4,300,000,000 in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry and support clean energy sources: use our Biscuit Budget Tool .
Indigenous
This year we’ve launched an innovative campaign to promote Indigenous justice and reconciliation across the country.
A Hit Single – We launched ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ – a hit single featuring top Aussie artists to build on February’s apology to stolen generations – and you sent it to #4 on the Australian charts!
Grassroots Reconciliation – On April 29 thousands of Australians met at more than 350 grassroots meetings across the country to build reconciliation from the grassroots up. Read more about the incredible night and ongoing reconciliation action here.
Human Rights
Stand up for Tibet – In the lead up to Prime Minister Rudd’s Chinese visit, we called on the PM to take our concerns about Tibetan human rights abuses to the 2 men best placed to end the problem – the Chinese Premier and Prime Minister. The campaign was a success, with Prime Minister Rudd taking a strong public stand on Tibet and bringing international attention to the issue. click here to read more about the campaign.
Grassroots support for Tibet – GetUp members also chipped in more than $70,000 to support organisations working to promote the human rights and democratic freedoms of the Tibetan people. Click here for more on the fundraiser.
We will continue to campaign on all the issues in your ‘People’s Agenda for Parliament’ in the weeks, months and years to come. You can still donate to this campaign below to fund GetUp’s campaigning capacity. We appreciate your ongoing support.
Delivery to Politicians
Your ‘People’s Agenda’ has been delivered to every federal MP and Senator. GetUp members across the country also organised more than 90 personal meetings with their local MP to discuss your priorities! Most had a very positive response from their member, and the personal encounters also generated awareness and understanding of GetUp among politicians that will strengthen our campaigning for years to come.
Come July we will organise meetings with all new Senators as they take their place in the Upper House; to get involved email [email protected].
People’s Agenda in Parliament
The Agenda has also been discussed in both houses of Parliament. In the Senate it was raised by Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion, NSW Senator Ursula Stephens; you can read her speech here. The Agenda was also the subject of a two speeches by Kelvin Thomson, the MP for Wills, who stood up to “single out for praise and commend to the parliament the work of GetUp!, who have sent us a people’s agenda for the new parliament”; you can read Mr Thomson’s speeches here and here.
Well we did it – At the end of January the GetUp team sat together and planned our strategic direction around your top priorities of environmental sustainability, high-quality education, and Indigenous rights and living standards. The talks were tough but fruitful, and using the ‘People’s Agenda’ created by over 32,000 of you, we narrowed down our campaigns and hammered out the details. We will keep you posted as we further develop these operational plans.
Thank you to everyone who contributed, we are truly encouraged by the fact that you were able to raise over $50,000! With this support, you have given us the financial resources to start making your vision of Australia a reality. You can now download your own copy of the ‘People’s Agenda’ here.
We have reached our target of $50,000, thanks to everyone for your help! Further support to implement the ‘People’s Agenda’ is very much appreciated – so please donate below!
raised already!