Communications Toolkit

Your voice is critical to the future of Landcare in your community and across the state. You can boost support for your Landcare group and the community Landcare movement by engaging with your local MP, writing letters to the editor and getting active on social media.

This toolkit is designed to help landcarers raise awarness for Landcare in Victoria and to make connecting with your local politician as easy as possible.

Campaign and Key Messages

Right now, Landcare Victoria is focused on future-proofing the work community landcare does across the state. We’ve recently released the landcare movement’s first 10-year Plan, outlining how landcare in Victoria can continue and evolve its important work.

Landcare’s 80 local facilitators and 10 regional coordinators are critical to the success of that Plan, and to Victoria’s response to biodiversity loss and climate change. They harness the power of over 60,000 volunteers from more than 600 groups and networks across Victoria. We’re calling on our political leaders to support committed and sustained funding for facilitators and coordinators, as without it, the work of landcare in Victoria is at risk.

Key Messages

When discussing this campaign with your MP, the media or on your socials, it's important to emphasise the following key messages. Adhering to these points enhances the campaign's effectiveness and impact, however you are encouraged to tailor these messages to match your communication style.

We have a plan: We’ve released our 10-year plan which sets out a blueprint for the next decade which positions Landcare in Victoria to continue playing a key role in tackling biodiversity loss and climate change.

Facilitators and coordinators are key: Critical to the success of the plan are our 80 regional facilitators and 10 coordinators who harness the power of tens of thousands of volunteers across more than 600 Victorian Landcare groups and help fill the extension gap left by the government.

Long term and higher funding needed: For this to be possible though we need longer term and greater funding. We’re calling for an investment of $48 million over four years towards Facilitator and Coordinator roles.

Media and Advocacy Webinar

We held a Media and Advocacy Webinar recently, to provide the key messaging and knowledge needed to ensure the landcare community can be powerful advocates for this campaign. Presented by framing and language specialist Les White, the webinar covered engaging with the media, advocacy and how to have a successful meeting with your MP.

The recording of the Media and Advocacy Webinar is now available to view. 

Can you help us get the word out?

You can boost support for both your Landcare group and the community landcare movement by engaging with your local MP, writing letters and getting active on social media. This toolkit is designed to help you:

• Identify your local MP
• Hold a meeting with your local MP
• Write a letter to your local MP
• Write a letter to the editor
• Engage on social media

We have also created some templates and examples that might be helpful. 

Identify your local MP

The first step in reaching out to your local MP is to find their contact details. At a state level you can use the Parliament of Victoria find a member page (if you don’t know your electorate, use the Victorian Electoral Commission’s lookup tool to find out). Details of Federal MPs and Senators can be found here.

In the first instance, we suggest reaching out to your local MP, but you may also want to reach out to the Victorian Ministers with relevant portfolios, i.e. energy, environment or agriculture.

Hold a meeting with your MP

We want to make sure MPs know that landcare is important to voters. Landcare’s 80 local facilitators and 10 regional coordinators are critical to Victoria’s response to biodiversity loss and climate change, but without ongoing funding certainty for these roles, the long-term future of landcare is at risk.

It can take a few weeks to confirm a meeting time with your MP, so make sure you get in early if there’s an important date coming up. If you can’t get a meeting immediately, don’t panic – this is an ongoing campaign with ongoing relationships. If this is your first meeting, it shouldn't be your last! MPs are busy and their diaries change a lot. Don’t be put off if your meeting gets cancelled, shortened or rescheduled at late notice – be patient, persistent and polite.

Step one: get in touch

We are here to help and if we are able, possibly come along to your meeting - email us with any questions or just to let us know your plans.

Step two: draft your letter

If this is your first interaction with the MP, make sure to include some details about yourself and your group, and why you’re seeking a meeting with them. It’s also good to make a note of your role within the community and your community’s concerns.

• Open you email by congratulating them on something they’ve done well in the environment, agriculture or climate change space, or something they may have said publicly about their values.
• State your request for a meeting and the dates that you are available.
• Explain the reasons for wanting to meet with them.
• Ask their office to contact you to arrange a suitable time and note anyone else who may attend the meeting – this doesn’t need to be too specific.
• Sign off with your name and contact details.

If you need some help with this, you can use the email template provided below.

Step three: follow up with phone call

Follow up your meeting request with a phone call – after three or four days – to make sure your email has been received and noted.

Step four: hold your meeting

Prior to your event, make sure to confirm the amount of time allocated to your meeting, it’s likely that an MP will only join you for about 30 minutes.

Here are some handy tips for holding a successful meeting: 

• Turn up on time.
• Introduce yourself and those who are with you, and why you wanted to meet with them.
• Take the MP through your key points and key ask (see key messages).
• Highlight any common areas of interest you may have with the MP (inaugural speeches are a great place to find out more about an MPs values and interests).
• Tell some personal stories about landcare and how it has benefited your region, or your property – use small, specific examples that are easy to picture.
• Ask if your MP is willing to support your key ask. Listen to what they say and take notes.
• Ask them if there is anything you can do to help, to allow them to support your key ask.
• Ask if you can take a photo with them holding the Landcare Plan for Victoria and let them know where the photo will be used (social media, newsletter, media release etc.).
• Leave a Landcare Plan Summary and the Landcare Plan for Victoria with them so they can read through them later.
• Thank your MP for their time.

Step five: follow up

Now that you’ve had a successful meeting, it’s time to solidify your impact. Follow these steps below to help maintain an ongoing relationship and grow support for the community landcare movement.

• Let Landcare Victoria know how your meeting went! Include any key takeaways and photos from the meeting.
• Post about your meeting on social media if you took photos (especially if you took one of them holding the Landcare Plan for Victoria).
• Make sure to tag the MP and Landcare Victoria. If you need help with what to say, have a look at the example social media post below. Follow up with the MP to thank them for attending your meeting.
• If they made any commitments to you, remind them of what these were and do the same if you made any commitments to them.

Write a letter to your local MP

When writing a letter to your MP, it's best to keep it short and focus on one issue - this helps to maximise the impact of your message. Lengthy letters, that cover a range of topics are more likely to be overlooked. A short, focussed message can be powerful. A letter template has been provided below. 

Advice on content

• Refer to the Landcare Plan for Victoria for some information about landcare in Victoria, as well as our key messaging for this campaign.
• Make it personal – explain why you care but be sure to remain calm and respectful.
• Make a specific ask – ask your MP to vote against a particular Bill, speak about the issue in Parliament, raise the issue with relevant MPs or talk about the issue in the media.

Write a letter to the editor

Letters to the editor are a great way to bring landcare and the issues it faces to the attention of your local MP, media outlets and the broader community. Avoid negative commentary – stay positive.

Advice on content

• Open with a greeting, using the editors name if you know it.
• Make it interesting: Try to capture the reader’s attention from the very first sentence.
• If writing in response to another letter or article, cite its date and title.
• Make a convincing case: try to be persuasive and back up your facts with solid evidence.
• Make a call to action: Be clear about what you want done about a particular issue.
• Incorporate key messages (see above)
• Keep it short: Your letter has a better chance of making it into the newspaper in its entirety if it is 250 words or less in length.
• Sign off with your name and contact details (they won’t publish your contact details but may need to contact you to follow up or verify your identity).

Engage on social media

Sharing landcare messages on your social media platforms is an effective way of reaching new audiences that Landcare Victoria wouldn’t be able to reach on our own. You can do this by following us on Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter) and liking/sharing our posts, or by writing your own posts and tweets and tagging us!

If you have a meeting with your MP, or they come to an event, this is also a great thing to promote. You can also tag Landcare Victoria, the MP and the local media in these posts.

An example social media post has been provided below. 

Examples and templates

Representing Landcare Victoria

Landcare Victoria is the backbone of the community landcare network in the state and we’d love for you to represent not only us, but the movement as whole. Before publicly representing us, please check in with us first. Our reputation is key to our success, and we need to make sure we’re all on the same page. If representing us, please:

• Always remain respectful, constructive and non-partisan.
• Be evidence-based when talking about landcare and the issues we are facing
• Agree to abide by Landcare Victoria’s values

We're here to help!

Should you require any information or support to contribute to this campaign, please don't hesitate to reach out using the contact details provided below.