Our Members of Parliament (MP) and Senators are there to listen to our issues and represent us in Parliament. This means they will not act unless they believe their own electorate is impacted.
Therefore, it is critically important that your elected MP and Senators are aware of your situation so that they can accurately represent both you and the vaccine-injured/bereaved community as a whole. The more people who contact their MP and Senators, the more likely the issue of vaccine harm will be raised and taken seriously.
We have included the below guide in an effort to help you draft a letter to your MP and Senators. If you find you are unable to complete this process for any reason whatsoever, please reach out to contact@coverse.org.au and we will help you.
Our goal is to have as many MPs and Senators on our side as possible so when drafting your letter be passionate but always remain polite.
Step 1: Find your MP & Senators –
You can search for your federal Member of Parliament (MP) and find out how to contact them. You may also consider contacting federal Senators for your state/territory, as well as the Federal Minister for Health.
You are able to send your letter to them via their official email address, however your letter is more likely to be read and replied to if you post a physical letter to them.
If you do not know the name of your MP you can search for their information using your postcode or the name of your electorate.
Search for MPs and Senators
(to help you find your MP, photos of MPs have a green background, while photos of Senators have a red background)
Step 2: How to address your MP and Senators –
There are some basic rules when addressing letters to your MP and Senators.
For example, politicians who have been, or are, government ministers will have the title “The Honourable” before their name.
Do not overthink it too much. If you get it wrong it’s not going to be the end of the world. But if you would like to follow the standard protocol, there is a guideline available for use.
Step 3: Creating your letter — opening paragraph –
Dear <address the MP or Senator using their correct title>,
I am writing to you today to bring light to an urgent issue affecting many Australians including myself.
Provide a high-level summary of your age, gender, family situation, and brief details of your injury. Include the most debilitating details and the things that have been the hardest to deal with for you personally. Be emotive but keep this short (no more than two or three paragraphs). This will help make the issue real and tangible for your MP — helping them understand the need for change at a rational and emotional level.
Step 4: The Ask — subsequent paragraphs –
I am asking for your proactive attention and support in the following areas:
While relaying your story is incredibly important, your letter is more effective if you can ask your MP to take specific action as well.
What are the top 2 or 3 areas you would like them to help with? Some examples include:
Financial support
- The Covid-19 Vaccine Claims Scheme – do you qualify? If not, why not, what would you want to change about this scheme if you could?
- Ongoing Government support (outside of JobSeeker payments).
Health services specific to your needs
- Are there specific treatments or tests that you would like to have but are unable to due to costs/availability or another constraint.
- Are there specific care requirements you have that you would like assistance with.
Research and Education
- Ask for government attention to be focussed on creating knowledge and awareness of the scope of vaccine injury through adequately funded research, doctor education programs and the creation of adverse reaction advisory groups or centres.
Initiate and participate in positive Parliamentary debate on vaccine injuries
- Ask them to ensure that any debate around vaccine injury is treated with respect and compassion.
Ask a Parliamentary question about the vaccine-injured
- Is there a particular question or questions you would like the member to raise in parliament? These questions are kept on record and are a good way of raising pertinent issues about specific topics.
Step 5: Closing the letter –
I look forward to hearing from you with details on what action you have taken or are planning to take to address these issues as my elected representative.
Yours sincerely,
Your signature
Your name
Today’s date
Your contact details (be sure to include your suburb so they know you are their constituent)
Templates & examples –
Templates using the Steps above have been created and can be downloaded as Word documents (see list below). Update the templates with your own information and you can then send it to your MP and/or Senators directly.
- Simple template (outline of the above steps) (Word document | PDF document)
- Extended template (with more options) (Word document | PDF document)
- Sample letter #1 (PDF document)
You can also read the letter COVERSE wrote to all federal MPs and Senators.