Newsletter Archive

Newsletter - 03/02/2021

Dear Members and Friends
A big newsletter this month.

First up, more trouble with membership. About 200 of you are not on the electoral roll and this has set back our registration by maybe 6 months. Everyone must be on the electoral roll. A Canberra rule but sensible. Pls, pls, pls if you are unsure txt 0434 386 576 or email us so we can fix. Or you can go to aec.gov.au and follow the prompts to Enrol. You will need to sign but can be done with your finger on your phone. You also need a Medicare no. Or you can go to the AEC office and fill out the form.

Secondly, Aunty Nerrie, Wiradjuri, needs our help! Sacred sites, near Blayney, are about to be blasted into space for a gold mine. If you can help, come to a demo, write a letter to the office now. Send a txt to 0455 195 920. Auntie Nerrie is speaking below.

https://www.facebook.com/PRIME7NewsCentralWest/posts/3674239319324402

On a brighter note our North Coast members had a fantastic Invasion Day/Australia day bbq in Grafton. They asked our members their views on changing the date. See below. They said results were mixed with some saying they did not care if the date was changed. See photos below.

Advice from Aden Ridgeway for the Indigenous Party of Australia

Hi Aden

Hope you do not mind my asking the following:

" If you had one piece of important advice to give us, what would that be?"

Hi again Gab!
I guess my response to your question really relates to the political party (in this case, IPA), your policies and campaign messages, and how to make these relevant to a wider support base.
A good example here, is to think of the environmental movement in the 1980s and how they needed to make the issue of environmental conservation, management, protection and biodiversity, a mainstream issue that the population becomes more aware of, understands its importance, and leads to mainstream political parties (as well as big business and society) forming policy responses, etc.
Achieving the desired outcome can often take time but sometimes they can be fast-tracked if the right moment in time and opportunity arises .. for example, last year's catastrophic bushfires, etc.
The last thing I would also say is to have a clear vision and strategy about what your party is seeking to achieve, where and how? For example, while I can see that the IPA is taking a national focus, getting registered is one thing but it also comes back to building up your support base (who are they? what are their thoughts/opinions? How are they like the IPA and vice-versa? How would they see themselves getting voice through IPA, etc.?) So I guess my message here, is more around building the support base and having a clear understanding of IPA political focus .. the Australian Democrats, for example, built a support base around the idea of 'Keeping the Bastards Honest' which then meant developing a focus which was not about becoming an alternative government or even another opposition but a focus which strategised our role to stop the excesses of whoever was elected in government by concentrating our efforts in the Senate. This was further supported by having candidates run in every state and territory election, as well as local government elections, Australia-wide.

Aden Ridgeway

Lambie's approach is pretty much the same as the Aus Dems, that is holding the balance of power in the Senate, which means a senate strategy approach.

The key here is understanding how the Senate vote on election day works .. here's a link which might be helpful:

https://www.aph.gov.au/Help/FAQs/Senate_FAQs

The Senate voting system of 'proportional representation' means that you have to achieve a quota in each state in order to be elected. So for large populated states like NSW and VIC, it is far more difficult, whereas the smaller populated states like Tasmania, it is a whole lot easier to get elected as compared to the larger states.

So I'll leave it at that and wish you well in your political journey .. regards,

Aden

In regard to our competition to design a t-shirt for Indigenous-Aboriginal Party of Australia (also known as Indigenous Party of Australia) we have received some fantastic entries. Pls see below!

Uncle Owen will be closing the competition soon and then it is over to you guys to vote. Not too late to submit an entry. Email your t shirt design to the office at indigenouspartyofaustralia@gmail.com. We look forward to receiving it.