Dear FAST Friends

Last month, Australians went to the polls and voted decisively to return the federal Labor Government to power with a strong majority in the House of Representatives and the ability to pass legislation through the Senate with the support of the Greens. 

This is good news for animals. In the lead up to the election, the Australian Labor Party publicly committed to a suite of animal welfare policies, including:

• Protecting the legislated phase out of live sheep exports by 2028 (the conversative coalition was vowing to overturn the phase out if elected)
• Expanding the role of the federal Inspector-General of Animal Welfare and Live Animal Exports to include oversight of abattoirs registered for export (where the vast majority of Australian sheep and cattle are slaughtered)
• Providing funding for the implementation of the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy 
• Supporting the expansion of tax Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status to animal welfare advocacy organisations (potentially unlocking millions of dollars in additional donations)
• Developing a national animal welfare trade policy to promote the inclusion of animal welfare provisions in international trade agreements

How was this achieved?

In the lead up to the election, we canvassed the positions of all major parties on the above policies. In the course of doing so, we presented the parties with our plans for a strategically targeted digital and outdoor advertising campaign that would run for the duration of the election campaign. 

The advertising campaign would highlight the parties’ positions to voters nationally, and in 18 specific electorates, chosen for their strategic significance to each party’s electoral prospects. This proved influential in the negotiation of the parties’ positions. 

During the course of the election campaign, Alliance member organisations and campaign allies helped promote the election campaign assets, collectively achieving over 8 million impressions and reaching over 50% of voters in targeted electorates.

Successful tactics:

• Investing in close and constructive relationships with key figures of the parties (both elected representatives but also non-elected party officials such as campaign directors, policy convenors, respected party stalwarts etc) over an extended period of time to build trust
• Sourcing expert inside advice on party election strategy including key seats/electorates in play
• Developing a unified policy platform and strategically targeted election advertising campaign to take to the parties well in advance of the election to leverage policy support

What’s next?

We are now focused on post-election political engagement and ensuring the federal government follows through with the commitments. This will be a substantial body of work as several commitments require legislative change and budget allocations.     

We are also laying the groundwork to pursue similar campaigns at the state level.

Further information?

Please see our post-election webinar here: https://www.allianceforanimals.org.au/ourwork/keeping-animal-welfare-on-the-political-agenda