Here are some points that you can use to write your own letter. Writing your own letter is the most effective way of communicating with your members of parliament. If you are really pressed for time, there is a form letter below that you can use but bear in mind that this is a little less effective. It’s your sport that is under attack. It’s worth a bit of your time, and it is important that you do it as soon as possible.
You should write to your federal member of parliament. You can find your electorate here. Once you have that, look up your member here. After you’ve done that, you can write to the senators in your state or territory. There are 12 in each state and two in each territory. You can find your senators here.
Email address for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Letter for Labor, Greens and Teals:
A letter to Labor and Greens members and senators should ask them to oppose the bill because of the reasons outlined below. Labor and the Greens are likely to vote for the bill.
Liberal Party, National Party, Bob Katter, Rebekah Sharkie and One Nation:
Liberal Party, National Party, Bob Katter, Rebekah Sharkie and One Nation members and senators are opposing the bill. The first thing you should say is congratulations for opposing the bill. The second is thank you. After that, you should tell them why you oppose the bill as well, using the information below.
Please be polite. The letter doesn’t need to be long. It doesn’t need to be written in flowery or legal language. Your own words are more than enough – they are very effective. You might even like to use ChatGPT or another AI to help you write a letter using the dot point below as part of your prompts.
- The bill is being rushed. Consultation was insufficient. Shooting organisations were not allowed to attend the public hearings.
- There is not enough time to consider all the implications and unintended consequences of the bill in a technical area. Public safety should be protected in a measured and deliberate way, not rushed through the parliament. This bill should be slowed down and properly consulted on.
- This bill will prevent the importation of clothing and equipment used by competition shooters, ranging from suburban club shooters to Olympic Athletes. Banning it won’t make anyone safe but will severely affect law-abiding competition shooters. The bans on the importation of equipment and clothing should be removed.
- The bill attempts to prevent people from using a carriage service (internet) to assist with the production of illegal 3D printed firearms, but while we agree with the aim of cracking down on illegal firearms, the wording is so poor that the simple act of accessing reloading data for improving the accuracy of shooting would constitute an offence.
- There is no right of review for an adverse intelligence finding for someone applying for a firearms licence. This would make potential shooters the only people who cannot have a review an adverse intelligence finding. There needs to be a right of review.
- The bill allows the use of AI to assist in decision-making on intelligence findings – this contravenes a recommendation of the Robodebt Royal Commission.
- If there is going to be a buy-back, the compensation needs to be based on market value, include accessories and compensate business owners for a loss of business. This should be written into the legislation.
If you really can’t find the time to write your own letter using the information above, you can use the letter below. You can cut and paste it into an email or use AI to re-write it.
Dear XXXXXXX
I write regarding the Hate Speech bill that will be debated in the parliament next week. I oppose the bill. (LIB, NAT, One Nation, Katter, Sharkie – Thank you for opposing the bill. I am very grateful for you opposition.) (Lab, Greens, Teals – I am disappointed that you will be supporting the bill and I ask you reconsider for reasons outlined below.) [delete the part in brackets that doesn’t apply depending on who you are writing to]
I am particularly concerned about the firearms provisions in the bill.
The bill is being rushed. Consultation has been insufficient and shooting organisations were not invited or allowed to give evidence at the hearings of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security.
There has not been enough time to consider all the implications and unintended consequences of the bill in a very technical area of public policy. Public safety should be protected in a measured and deliberate way, not rushed through the parliament. This bill should be slowed down and consulted on properly.
This bill will prevent the importation of clothing and equipment used by competition shooters ranging from suburban club shooters to Olympic Athletes. Banning this clothing won’t make anyone safer but it will severely affect law abiding competition shooters. The bans on equipment and clothing importation should be removed.
The bill attempts to prevent people using a carriage service (the internet) to assist with the production of illegal, 3D printed firearms. I agree with the aim of cracking down on illegal firearms, however, the wording is so poor that the simple act of a licensed shooter accessing reloading data for improving accuracy of shooting would constitute an offence. This is unfair and ridiculous.
There bill eliminates the right of review for an adverse intelligence finding against someone applying for a firearms licence. This would make potential shooters the only people who cannot have a review of an adverse intelligence finding. There needs to be a right of review. This is especially true when the bill also allows for the use of AI in the decision-making process.
The bill allows the use of AI to assist with decision making on intelligence findings – this contravenes a recommendation of the Robodebt Royal Commission. And should be removed.
I disagree that there is a need for buy-back but if there is going to be a buy-back, the compensation needs to be based on market value, include accessories and ammunition as well as compensate business owners for a loss of business. This should be written into the legislation to ensure that the process is fair.
Participating in shooting is very important to me and I will be taking this into account when I vote at the next election.
Yours sincerely
XXXXXX