Access to Government – Only for the Rich & Powerful?

09 Jan Access to Government – Only for the Rich & Powerful?

When I tell people that I work to help ensure government’s decisions are the very best they can be to benefit the whole community, I am often confronted with eye rolls, groans or any number of expressions that tell me the people I am talking to don’t believe that this can happen.

I assure you that government can – and does – make many decisions to benefit the whole community and I have worked on many of these decisions.

Government decisions are there to benefit the whole community. Simply put, in my own words, government is there to:
• encourage people doing good things for the community; and
• discourage people doing bad things for the community.
It would be naïve to leave out that government wants to be re-elected. After all, everyone wants to keep their job!

Most people think that government has an inherent bias towards decisions that help the big end of town. Why does this bias exist? Mainly because the big end of town understands the importance of, and prioritises, government relations and advocacy. When I worked in government, the big end of town was always present – at meetings we organised, on the phone and emails.

In contrast, ordinary people, small and medium sized businesses, charities and other not-for-profits (NFPs) are often reluctant to talk to government. Part of this reluctance is fear – talking to government is an unknown and they don’t know how to do it. Another part of this reluctance is ignorance – they simply might not know they can have productive conversations with government. Then, there are those who feel “burnt” – they talked to government in the past and didn’t get anywhere. Sometimes, people feel advocacy to government is too expensive.

I want to assure you that government wants to talk to, and hear from, ordinary people, businesses and NFPs. Simply approach government with common-sense solutions, respect and persistence and in my experience, you will get good results. The hardest part is often working out what the problem and solution are – they are not always obvious or what they initially appear to be.

More tips for engaging with to government for better outcomes are available in previous editions of this column and can be accessed here.

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, January 2023. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.