Why write an open letter?
Lobbyists bend politicians' ears every day. Traditional media and algorithms platform loud, outrageous and divisive voices. Other countries' governments also get a say.
Meanwhile, we, the people elect our members of parliament and senators to represent us.
Our votes are powerful, but they lack detail. They're not a blanket permission slip for elected representatives. To be able to govern with integrity, they need to listen to what their communities need and care about.
Millions of active citizens engage with government by writing letters, signing petitions, protesting, campaigning, showing up, and speaking out.
But are we being heard?
Trust in government is low. This is because ordinary Australians can see that powerful special interest groups and preposterously wealthy individuals exert greater influence on our governments than we seem to be able to.
This shouldn't make any sense. We are most influential when our voices are combined. Our votes combined give the government authority to act on what communities need and want – but without greater transparency, nobody really knows whether our voices are being considered.
So, what if we combined our letter-writing efforts too?
There's no public record of what you and your neighbours are writing about. Parliamentarians are not even required to archive your letters. There's no way to know whether your concern is shared by 10 or 10,000 others.
Open Letters is designed to be that record.
Around 13% of Australian voters report that they've communicated with a politician. That's nearly 2.5 million people! And so many emails sitting isolated in inboxes.
Imagine if we consolidated and published that data. We'd have powerful insight into what we're all asking of our representatives and irrefutable evidence of whether they're acting on it.
Whether you're a seasoned letter writer or a brave first-timer, join the Open Letters community to put your thoughts on the record and strengthen the evidence of what Fremantle and its neighbours deeply care about.