Getting Good Government is an art and a science
Getting good government is about voter influence.
Parliamentary Productivity
increase the productivity by telling MPs what is needed and rate their achievements.
Stop Child care abuse
Stop abuse of children in Child Care centres.
The “somebody” who has to act is YOU! The time is right now!
Nobody else cares about your children or grandchildren like you do. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
Have your say the Votergram way on this vital issue. Tell each and every Member of Parliament what you want done NOW!
They represent you and control government which controls child care. Politicians act on what voters ask them to act on. If you don’t tell them they will not know what you want. Don’t rely on the media alone.
Profit-oriented child care operators will be telling politicians that it is all working well except for minor incidents. These are not minor incidents. They damage children’s lives!!
Votergrams have helped Australians to persuasively engage with their elected parliamentarians all over Australia on a multitude of issues for nearly 40 years. That is what makes democracy work.
Votergrams are the most effective way of parents influencing government.
Email team@votergrams.au or call us on 0428 417 496 or 02 9988 3312
Dealing with Debt Traps
Loan applications falsified
As a minor Westpac shareholder I was amazed today to read in the Sydney Morning Herald that Westpac is reported to have paid $7.6m in compensation to customers for the fraudulent conduct of its subsidiary RAMS, by falsifying loan application details.
Over a decade ago I discovered that a Westpac bank manager had done that to farmers applying for a loan to purchase a property that had been recommended to them by that bank manager.
In another case decades ago Westpac allowed a young widow with young children to guarantee her brother’s business loan with a mortgage over her home. She had no financial or business knowledge at all. When the brother’s business failed Westpac sold up her home leaving her homeless.
Bank theft exempt from prosecution??
Why is the Federal Government not currently prosecuting the Westpac directors for fraud and breach of Corporations law. Probably because bank customers in their role as voters are not pushing the federal parliament to require honesty in the banking industry that they so obligingly deregulated. Deregulation takes the honesty out of banking and allows dishonest practices to flourish.
What can customers do?
The best and fastest way for any bank customers threatened by their bank is to send a Votergram outlining the issue to Federal Parliament. That message will go to each and every Member of Parliament. There are 226 of them. Some of them will most like help you. They are all-powerful. Borrowers usually do not realise that they have been trapped by the bank until they struggle to meet repayments. It may be because they fell ill,. They may have lost their job. Their business may have made losses instead of profits. Their farm may be suffering from bushfire, flood or drought. Politicians are very good at helping voters.
To reach the ones interested in helping you is why Votergrams go to them all. In any group of people only a few are interested in any one issue. On major policy issues you need a majority of MPs on side. Again going to all of them is the best way to achieve that.
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Campaigning pays – for voters too!
Performance
The first factor that voters should consider at election time, is past performance of their local MP and their party or group. Hence the monthly rating facility on Voters Network website to aid that process. Bad performance will put many people off. Good performance in the last term of parliament is likely to encourage people to vote for that candidate or party.
The question for all campaign candidates is just how to present the facts of past performance to voters in a way that will win their votes. For voters seeking some action or policy from government, the situation is reversed. The question of how to present to government what is wanted in the right way, is often more important than the fundamentals of what is wanted.
Promises
Promises of what will be done in the future if elected can also make a big difference to elections. In some ways they are more persuasive than facts about past performance. That is because people seem more interested in what might happen in the future, than what has actually happened in the past.
The problem is that past performance is fact. Future promises may never happen. It may be that when elected to government the promise turns out to be very difficult to do. It may be too expansive or not as important as other policies.
Future performance by any individual, political party or group invariably copies past performance. That is because the basic nature of the person or collection of people does not change much in a matter of months.
Sometimes promises are downright lies. There is not the slightest intention of carrying through with what is promised. Many statements that are taken to be promises, are simply expressions of intentions. “We intend to do so and so”. Intentions can change. They are not promises. They may be intentionally misleading statements. So the exact words spoken or written are always important.
Campaigning
Most commentators speaking about the 2025 federal election results before and after they were known, have talked about the “campaigns”. Much commentary indicated that whereas Labor’s campaign was brilliant the Liberal campaign had left a lot to be desired. I have no idea whether that was correct. What is important is that many commentators were speaking as if it was the campaigning that determined the election.
What that tells us voters who, actually did the voting, is that campaigning is important. It is not good enough to simply talk about what has happened in the past or what might happen in future. Nor is it good enough to just state what has been achieve and what might be achieved in future. A brief word about the current situation and how problems might be resolved, often does not really persuade voters or with politicians. Presentation itself is both complex and significant.
The way in which the facts are presented is often more important than the facts themselves. I guess it is fair to say that is often the case in our own lives. When we want our families or work colleagues to do something, the way we present it to them can determine how they react.
Political parties this week seem to be reaping the rewards or losses of the way they presented to voters their suitability to represent the public in parliament.
In exactly the same way many voters and organisations are celebrating having presented their cases in the right way to parliament for government do what was wanted. That may have a hospital bed, school hall or policy. At the same time many Australians be-moan living in parks, seeing daily murders, experiencing domestic or sexual violence many more are unable to pay their.
Influential voters
As with the presentation to voters by politicians, so it is with presentations by voters to parliament. When we have a problem of any kind with government, the best way to have it solved is via parliament. For we voters control the careers of our MPs. It is best to give every Member of Parliament an equal opportunity to help us resolve it. By giving them all and equal chance to help us, we reach those who are interested in our issue. It is the same whether it be personal like an operation in hospital or national like public health care. We also have a chance that way to get a majority of the interested politicians onside. That is the first step to influencing what is done. That is what Votergrams do.
It is not just reaching all the politicians in parliament that matters any more than it was just candidates reaching the voters that mattered. It is the strategies, techniques, psychology and the rewards that can flow that matter. Politicians gain from doing what voters ask. That is the same as voters favouring the party that offers money and facilities in return for votes. The MPs will do what produces the greatest benefit for them, which is often tied to how it will benefit other members of the voting public.
Lessons learned
There is a lesson learned by voters from the recent election campaign. It is not just a case of candidates asking for support from the voters or voters asking for support from government that counts. It is the way we ask and the amount of time effort and money that is devoted to it that counts most. Politicians spent almost $50 million encouraging voters to vote for them, according to News Limited .
Voters wanting to persuade politicians and governments to do what they want, also have to spend some money to make that happen. It is no good relying of free government-funded channels of communication, because they are designed to benefit the government.
To be influential voters need to spend the same sort of money they spend on getting other things that they want. Voter willingness to spend their own money persuading politicians to do something, gives MPs a message. It tells the MPs that the matter is extremely important to that voter or group of voters. That spells out the fact that failure to do so may mean being voted out next election.
Deluded by Democracy
When people ask me what I do, I say “I help people get government doing what they want.” The questioner almost falls about laughing with a common response being “I’ll bet you don’t have much luck at that” or “You can’t get government doing what you want. That ‘ll never happen.” They have ben deluded by democracy or perhaps the media reporting of it.
When I tell them about our constant successes they find it hard to believe. Truth is most of them have probably never asked a politician to do anything! Or they have just asked their poor unfortunate local MP, who is one person out of 150 in the Federal House of Representatives. Half of the MPs can’t stand the other half who they are fighting for power. One local MP has almost no power on their own.
If they have asked at all, those people have probably never asked the right way. In every aspect of life there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Polite persistent political persuasion in the relative privacy of parliament is a particularly good way of asking politicians. Research, facts, evidence, strategy and psychology also play a critical role. Politicians are very conscientious and they want to be convinced that what is suggested is good fair and reasonable, for the individual or the community. They know they are dealing with the lives and resources of the people who vote and live in Australia. They are open to ideas and suggestions, but they need to be convinced. Parliament controls government and voters control parliament as this election has just shown.
If voters respect their parliamentarians then their parliamentarians will respect them. Mutual respect and cooperation are the foundations of a sound society. Once the election is over we should pack up our party-political prejudices and put them away in the cupboard until the next election. We votes should equally respect and depend on every Member of Parliament for now. Treated that way, most MPs will equally respect the wishes of each voter.
The Essence of Democracy
And so that is in fact the essence of democracy. When voters and parliament work together for the individual and common good they are unstoppable. The old Votergram chant “Don’t complain. Campaign.” Is as true today as it ever was. Campaign to convince the MPs of what you want! The likelihood is that you will get it if you persist.
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Elections Results
Watch
Saturday night if you can, watch the election results so that you get a feel of what is happening, who has been elected in your electorate and who looks like controlling parliament.
Congratulate
If you have any interest in becoming an Influential Voter, send a nice note to your re-elected or newly elected MP congratulating them and wishing them well for the years ahead. The job of an MP, trying to please 50,000 to 100,000 Aussies at one time, all the time is prettying harrowing. A nice note now will put you in a better position to contact them later about issues important to you.
Promises
If they or their party have made any promises or given any undertakings about what they intend to do that particularly interests you, file those away. They may come in handy later.
Remember that your local MP representative will be one of 150 Federal MPs in the Federal House of Representatives. Your MP can only represent you if you specifically let them know what you would like them to do. The best way is to put it in writing and keep a copy. It is very easy for verbal messages to be misunderstood or lost.
Just like your neighbours
Try not to be convinced by the media that your MP is not doing the job properly. Most MPs do their best like most of us, but they do not have super powers or all knowledge and wisdom. Your representatives are like you and the people in your suburb. Sometimes, because we see them dressed up on TV making wise observations in 20 second grabs, we think they know it all and can do it all, but except in fairy tales, nobody is really like that.
Treat them with respect and you will probably be treated in the same way.
Votergrams
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Words of wisdom
As we celebrate Christmas, with proper respect for those of other faiths or no faiths, it seems worthwhile to acknowledge some hints from Jesus that helped create Votergrams, as recorded in Matthew’s gospel.
Don’t get angry. Sort it out with the other party and move on. Matt 5:23
When someone asks for something give it to them Chapter 5: verse 42
Love your enemies 5:44
Don’t boast about how you helped someone. 6:3
Forgive others who offend you 6:14.
Don’t store up riches for yourself 6:20
Don’t judge others 7:1
Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.7:7
Do for others what you want them to do for you. 7:12 (eg MPs)
Be on your guard against false prophets 7:15.
It is kindness I want. 9:13
Be as cautious as snakes and as gentle as lambs. 10:16
Your words will be used to judge you 12:37
The parable of the sower 13:18 ( Sow seeds of good ideas in parliament and watch them grow into policies.)
At Christmas we see Jesus as a baby. In adulthood he offered some good hints for improving society. Have a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Greg
Public Education in Crisis
Public Education
NSW Public Education is in trouble. Is it the same elsewhere? If you are interested in our children, grandchildren and great-grand-children getting the top quality education that they need for life, in our Public Schools, then this is for you.
Please, if you have not yet joined our Education interest group, join.
In democracy, works is that the government is guided by parliament and parliament does what voters ask it to do. If we don’t ask it to do more about education, others will ask it to do more about other topics. Education will languish. Disadvantage and inequality will increase.
Public Education P & Cs
According to today’s Sydney morning Herald, Bondi P & C is asking parents to chip in $80,000 for an extra teacher. The P & C is part of the Education Department. Parliament runs the Education Departments. The Education minister is a woman who was educated at Ascham, a private single sex girls high school. She is overseeing the closure of Public Girls’ High schools, like Randwick and Asquith to merge them with boys schools, thus putting the girls under sexual pressure by the boys as a diversion from studies likely to reduce their education outcomes. The government is reducing the overall education budget by over $100 million at a time when immigration is increasing the number of students and adding extreme language difficulties to the challenges of teaching.
A Call to improve Public Education
If you know of community members keen to see our Public Schools providing the very best possible public education in Australia to their students, please urge them to join Voters Network and its Public Schooling interest group. This cannot be accomplished by Parents and Citizens Associations that are controlled by the very government making the funding cuts. Ask those interested to email us at publicschooling@voters.au and tell us what their schools need. Otherwise, children attending Public Schools in NSW are going to be given a less than optimal education. Non government school students may beaten public school students in career choice and financial wellbeing. It is always up to the voters to guide government via the parliament they elect and pay to represent them.
Public Education affects people’s lives now more than ever as manual work disappears and is grossly underpaid.
Help us build a network of voters to work WITH our elected parliaments to deliver “government FOR the people” as opposed to “for the big business billionaires” who fund politicians and political parties for their own benefit.
Major Parties V Independents
Why voters dump major parties in favour of independents
Major parties have been bought, bribed and bullied by the Big Business and Banking Corporations. Corporations pay them millions, pay lobbyists millions to influence them and threaten them. Major parties are threatened with media campaigns if they fail to deliver laws, policies and profits to give big business a satisfactory ROI.
Last year de-regulated CBA earned in real money terms, 4,500 times what it earned when owned by the people in 1972. It did that by bleeding customers thanks to major party de-regulation. Major parties deliver super profits to banks and big business. Parties have increased immigration way beyond their capacity to handle the population numbers. Governments no longer provide the necessary services, homes, goods and services required by those immigrants and the Australians who elect and pay the MPs.
Money buys favours
By paying bribes to major parties, euphemistically called “donations”, big business CEOs have been able to draw salaries of between $50,000 and $200,000 PER MONTH.
Party MPs are controlled by the Party bosses. Independents are controlled by the voters who elect them.
As Hon. Paul Fletcher, a very helpful and competent local Liberal politician says in SMH today “Voters know what they are getting with majority government, be it Liberal or Labor” . They do and a good few of them don’t like it at all.
WHAT THEY GET
Discerning voters know that they will get massive migration to overwhelm Australians in their own country. It will continue to boost unmet demand for everything from housing to food and clothing, schools and hospitals. That demand forces prices and corporate profits up and the cost of labour down as immigrants often have to accept any pay rate that is going, just to survive. Our voters will endure more and more organised crime, drug crime and murders which are already a common occurrence in the immigration capital of Sydney. Parents will experience Public Schools providing less and less education to force students towards non-government schools. Public hospitals are leaving patients waiting in ambulances outside because the politicians are incapable of increasing the hospitals, equipment and staff numbers.
Cutting taxes means cutting services
No wonder, because they are simultaneously cutting taxes to win votes. Voters may not know that corporations earning billions pay tax at only 30% Those with profits of up to $50 million pay only 25%, while voters pay 45% on earnings over $200,000 plus 10% gst, so 55% tax. Corporate donors are sucking the wealth out of our economy. Voters are forced into ever higher debt to even buy a car home clothes and food.
DON’T DEAL WITH DONORS.
The solution is obvious. Major political parties should ban donors from any government contracts and any contact with MPs or bureaucrats directly or through lobbyists.
Parliament should investigate immigrant organised crime to determine how much of it is caused by political neglect of the migrants they bring to Australia. Government should reverse privatisation to stop the big corporations who have taken over our government enterprises, from extortionately high price gouging. Banking consultants know that major political parties assist dishonest banks and moneylenders to cheat customers. These rogues will remain secure from prosecution thanks to the Dishonest Bank Protection Racket the major parties have put in place at AFCA, ASIC and ACCC. Debt Management regulations are designed to stop independent professionals who care and are not bank funded, from preventing unfair foreclosures.
Wall of steel protects dishonest bank directors
Paul Fletcher was unable to break through that fence of protection to enable me, with a life-time in Chartered Accountancy & company directorships plus 37 years banking experience since de-regulation, to help one bank family customer get a fair go as their dishonest bank sought to foreclose. I could not charge for acting professionally for this couple being sold up by a big 4 bank. The husband had been conned by the bank and its broker to lodge a false loan application grossly overstating his income. The broker then engaged a new tax agent to lodge a false tax return for the borrower, lying to the borrower that he would withdraw it later.
Prevented from charging for the job, I put in my own funds to fight the bank. I stopped it from selling the family up. No thanks to major political parties who put impregnable steel bureaucratic barriers in the way trying to stop me saving this family’s home.
What voters know that they are getting from the major political parties, filled with some excellent, helpful, competent and honest MPs, is blockades at party HO serving the interests of those who pay the party the most money. Australians want their MPs serving those who give them the most votes and who pay their parliamentary salaries.
SOLUTIONS
The solutions we have developed are the FairGO Voters Network, the Votergram service and the Voterlobby to level the playing field. Without any great public fuss or demonstrations, they give everyday Aussie voters the power to influence their elected Parliaments. Such influence allows them to achieve the personal services they need. MPs of all persuasions will willingly assist voters when they know what those voters need.
Currently our younger Australians, children, teens and 20s are being seriously disadvantaged. That is by and for the colossal financial gain of the tiny rich and powerful minority that is primarily funding major parties for their own benefit, with shareholders’ money.
RE-ELECT TOP PERFORMERS
We have great politicians, contrary to the popular view, but they have been compromised by accepting money. We voters need to get along side them, support and inform them.
We voters need to make it clear that we will support political parties if they do what we want and replace them if they don’t. Campaigning in marginal electorates is the key to that. Voting for a candidate whose party will not do what we want, is like rewarding children for being disobedient. Vote them back and they will keep on offending us!
Each Voters Network member can rate any MPs monthly on whether they are or are not doing what that voter wants. It is a good extra “How to vote” guide for that voter at the next election. It also feeds though to show how voters feel about their elected representatives.
INFLUENCE
More important than who we vote for, is how we influence whoever is elected. We have found that sending Votergrams to ALL MPs enables a voter to reach the small group of politicians that is interested in any one particular topic and prepared to actually do something about it. They can make it happen for voters. They have done so for the past 36 years since they were invented.
How you guide them is more important than who you elect
Guide the government that is elected, whoever they are. People often forget this important step. Elections are like football games – winsome, lose some. The elected MPs cannot possibly know what 27 million people want done on hundreds of topics. They do what they are persuaded by voters to do.
How voters guide their parliament (or congress) to do what they want is far more important than who the voters elect. Running the country is quite different to electioneering.
In Australia we know that for the past 38 years thousands of Aussies have, for as little as a $55 influenced the shape of their society by Votergram reaching every MP in any or every parliament. Any voter can start guiding the parliament to do what they want, regardless of who is their local member or which party is in government.
MPs value voter input
Their Votergrams are political party neutral, so all MPs treat them the same way. MPs are our representatives not our leaders, though a few of the 225 federal MPs do become leaders. But they must lead as the majority of voters want or they will be replaced next election. Voters have great influence, but most don’t use it and so suffer in silence.
Votergrams come to MPs politely and in a friendly way from a voter serious enough to spend money on it and so possibly serious enough to vote according to how MPs respond or even to persuade other voters to vote according to how different MPs respond. MPs depend on votes for their jobs.
80% less wealthy own the majority of votes
A tiny rich, powerful and vocal minority currently control federal and state Australian governments, because the silent majority allow them to. It makes the rich far richer far faster as they drain the money out of society and push the rest deeper into debt. But the general community holds hundreds of times more votes and so can use its persuasive power to influence parliaments to shape society for the benefit of the less wealthy 80% rather than for the 5% of super wealthy billionaires who pay big money to political parties. That money is used to buy votes. But 80% of the voters own 80% of the votes and so can control election results if they wish to share a bit more in Australia’s health, wealth and happiness.
Any Australian can become a very Influential Voter by using ultra-cheap Votergrams.