TNA encourages you to stay in contact with your local member after the election. Tell them your thoughts on their arts platform, or if they are new, it’s a great opportunity to let them know that there are artists and arts organisations in their electorate. Many of them are keen to meet in person.

We also encourage you to stay in contact with the unsuccessful candidates too – many of them will recontest, and in any case, they are in the public sector because they want to have influence, so they may still want to hear from you.

The Australia Council’s useful Electorate Profile tool has electorate specific data, on ‘Industry’ (e.g. how many creative workers) and ‘Engagement’ (citizen engagement with the arts). TNA has used it to make our letters personal: “as you know, Barton has many creative workers, in 2016, there were 4,761 people employed across cultural and creative occupations”.

To find your electorate, use this aec tool with your postcode.   To find out more about Members of Parliament and Senators, including contact details, search here. You can sort by party, state, gender, surname or electorate.