How to meet with politicians

Tip Sheet How to meet with politicians

Organising a Meeting
The first step in arranging a meeting with your local MP is to write a short letter or email
requesting to meet, with a short summary of the issues you would like to discuss. You’ll find
a template for an initial meeting below. Locate the correct details for your local Member by
searching the parliamentary website. Once you have sent your email/letter, it’s wise to
follow up with a phone call 5-7 days later if you haven't heard back, to organise a time and
date.
Planning the Meeting
It is generally useful to have 2 to 3 people attend a meeting with a local MP. Any more than
that and it can become very unwieldy.
Preferably, select 2 to 3 community members with good people skills and a broad
knowledge of the issues. Have a planning session several days before the meeting. This
enables you to plan which approach you will take. You’ll need to work out:

 Who will speak about what?

 What materials will you take (e.g. a one-page briefing note summarising issues, a
map, fliers, Bank of England paper, IMF working paper “The Chicago Plan Revisted”
etc.)?
 What are the key messages you want to get across (i.e. specific policy changes; that
the balance has shifted too much towards the one percent and against the
community in general)?
 How can you demonstrate support for your issue (media coverage, your group’s
successes, event attendance, door knocking in the electorate)?
 What action or question are you asking (i.e. that they support your key issues, and
will take them up with the relevant Ministers and Leaders)?
At the Meeting
The most important thing when meeting Members of Parliament is to engage respectfully at
all times, and to focus on providing them with the information they need to support your
cause. You are NOT there to argue with your MP, you are there to help inform them of the
issues, to form a good working relationship with them, and to give them the tools they need
to support you. The tone of a meeting is possibly the most important aspect so it’s essential
that you are friendly and polite so that you’ll get another meeting later.
It’s important to take into the meeting a set of up to three concrete requests that you are
going to ask your MP. Have these written down and clearly thought out before you go into
the meeting, and bring the meeting back to discuss these before the meeting finishes. They
can be as simple as asking them to raise the matter with the relevant Minister or the Leader
of their Party.

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Start the meeting positively. Congratulate the MP on their election, and say how hopeful
you are about working with them to get much needed improvements for our economy. Give
the MP a copy of your briefing note, and step them through it which is a great way to make
sure that you stay focused on the key points. Try to stick with your plan for the meeting,
even if the MP is going off track. Gently bring it back to your plan and your briefing note.
In the unlikely event, the MP becomes angry or aggressive, it’s best to respond gently and
by going back to the issues and the legitimate concerns that you are putting in front of
them, as a community member from their electorate.
After the Meeting
Follow up with a summary email, thanking the MP for meeting with you and outlining your
key messages and requests. This can be an opportunity to send through extra information
on topics covered.
Follow up with phone a call asking about actions taken since the meeting: if the MP agreed
to do something for you (like make contact with other MPs or Ministers, talk to the media or
find out some information) call them 5 to 7 days after the meeting and ask if they have done
so.
Let the rest of your group and other members of your regional alliance know what your MP
said in the meeting, and what they have been saying in the media.

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Suggested Meeting Request template – this may alter depending on the party’s priorities.
MP Name
MP Address
Date
Dear (insert name),
Capitalism with a human face
I am writing to request a meeting with you as a local constituent in your electorate. I am
concerned about:

 inequality
 child poverty
 the right to a free education – both primary and tertiary
 a dignified retirement income
 infrastructure spending on roads, schools and housing
 unaffordable housing
 rising debt levels for both central and local government
 rising personal debt levels
I believe that all of the above can be successfully addressed without the need to cut services
or raise taxes. It has been done before to get New Zealand out of the first Great Depression
in the 1930s and it can be done again to energise our economy and provide a dignified
lifestyle for all.
The similar solution to the one we propose has been endorsed by an IMF Discussion paper
in 2012 titled “The Chicago Plan Revisited” and the Swiss are also going to vote on a similar
proposal in a referendum in June 2018.
I therefore would like to request a meeting with you, at a suitable time, to discuss these
important issues and our solution. Please contact myself, (insert name), on (insert phone)
or (email) to organise a time to meet. We look forward to working with you in the future
on these important matters.

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Briefing sheet for the meeting:

There is a solution to inequality, homelessness, child poverty, housing affordability, a

dignified retirement income, spending on infrastructure and free tertiary education that does
not include higher taxes or cuts to other services.

We can achieve capitalism with a human face through having the Reserve Bank issuing
credit to the Government to fund their spending priorities. It was done by the first Labour
Government in 1936 with spectacular results.

New Zealand was in a far worse situation than it is now and within two years the Social
Security Act 1938 was passed “to safeguard the people of New Zealand from disabilities
arising from age, sickness, widowhood, orphan hood, unemployment, or other exceptional
conditions".

Treatment in public hospitals was free and the state funded about two-thirds of the cost of a
GP visit. This was the “Cradle to grave welfare state” that became the envy of the world.

Not only was the welfare state launched but tens of thousands of state houses were built
that provided meaningful employment to thousands. New Zealand emerged from the great
depression sooner and in better shape than most nations.

We went from dire straits to abundance in two short years.

It took the spending generated by the Second World War for the United States to recover
from the depression. The Americans had a similar idea to what New Zealand did called “The
Chicago Plan” but unfortunately it was never enacted.

An IMF discussion paper revisited the Chicago Plan in 2012 and stated that if it were
implemented then boom and bust cycles would be eliminated, there would be a dramatic
reduction in public and private debt with output gains of 10% and inflation would drop to zero
without posing problems for the conduct of monetary policy. That is a quote from the
abstract from the IMF working paper.

We do not need to borrow from private banks to cover the shortfall in revenue – the Reserve
Bank can create credit in the same way that private banks do. There would be no need to
pay back the principal, or pay interest on the loan, which amounts to four billion dollars a
year.

The Reserve Bank currently issues our notes and coins and we need to extend that to
electronic money that makes up 96% of the money in circulation.

The idea is picking up momentum in Europe with the Swiss voting in a referendum in June of
this year to have the Government issue credit, rather than private banks. The Icelandic
Government is considering it as is the Bank of England, using the Bitcoin technology.

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Suggested supporting documentation to provide on the day (in both hard copy and
electronic format):

 The briefing sheet from above.

 The record of the Parliamentary debate from 1936 where the first Labour
Government passed legislation to enable our Reserve Bank to create money to fund
the building of thousands of State Houses.
 the IMF (International Monetary Fund) Working Paper titled "The Chicago Plan
Revisited". It endorses a very similar approach to ours. We suggest you print out the
cover page and abstract along with pages 4, 5, 6 and 16. Page 16 debunks the cause
of hyper inflation in post World War one Germany.
 The Bank of England's paper titled "Money creation in the modern economy" issued
in March 2014. Print out the first page.
 The cover page and commentary from the November 2011 issue of "New Zealand
Investor" that commented on the practice.
 The Seven Sharp clip on the Positive Money New Zealand campaign.
(Contact Positive Money New Zealand if you need help printing the documentation. PMNZ
can provide a USB stick with the Seven Sharp clip on it.
Towards the end of your meeting ask them for a follow up meeting.)

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Template Meeting Acknowledgement

MP Name
MP Address
Date
Dear (insert name),
Follow up to our meeting:
Both (your support persons first name) and I enjoyed meeting with you and we appreciated
the time you gave us.
(Use this as the opportunity to forward any additional documentation that may have come
up during the meeting).
I look forward to our follow up meeting on the (date, month, year).
Thank you once again

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