Advocacy Snapshot

At our Canberra advocacy team evaluation meeting, team members noted:

It was springtime in Canberra for our 19th annual advocacy visit – a time of new beginnings and exciting possibilities

“I felt so affirmed and realised how significant our work is.”

“In our 19 advocacy meetings, I have felt so listened to; I am surprised again and again at how much we are respected as ACRATH.”

“The ACRATH advocacy team met with several Ministerial advisors in this special meeting room in the Ministerial wing of Parliament House.

The ACRATH advocacy team, in our evaluation meeting, noted the amazing and respect-filled access we had to decision makers during our week in Canberra. 

“We were able to bring to our meetings the stories of real people from our Companionship program and from our work with seasonal workers, from the coal face.”

“It is really impressive how informed the people we met were; they were responsive and genuinely interested to engage with us to improve the circumstances of people we support.”

“I was amazed that after we raised an issue of concern to us, we went to the next day’s meeting and found that our issues had already been passed on, and Departmental Officers and Ministerial advisors were already looking for solutions.”

“I am so impressed by our democracy; the bad behaviour of MPs that we see on TV, is only such a tiny part of the whole piece. In our week in Canberra we saw so many hard working MPs sitting into the night, representing their electorates’ issues, listening to people like us; we saw people raising issues about guide dogs, about union issues, disability issues, family violence issues.”

“Meeting with MP Maria Vamvakinou. Maria has supported ACRATH’s advocacy team for our whole 19 annual visits to Parliament House in Canberra. Maria is finishing her Parliamentary stint before the upcoming election,  and Christine is finishing up as ACRATH EO at Christmas.”