Contacting Ministers and Members

Everyone has the right to contact their local Member, or a Government Minister, on issues that the correspondent believes should be brought to the Member's attention or that the Member might be able to assist with. An important role of Members is to provide assistance, where appropriate, to constituents in regard to any problems they may be having with government. Members are also a point of contact with government for people to convey or express views about community or government issues.

Phone, write, fax, email or visit a Member of either house of Parliament, especially local members, to express views, concerns and proposals. In many cases Members can assist with problems, take action on behalf, or represent people or refer them to someone who can assist. Hearing from constituents helps Members understand community feelings about issues and to make up their own minds on those issues. They will often pass the concern on to an appropriate minister or office. In some cases, they will raise these concerns in the Parliament.

On some issues people may wish to phone, write, fax, email or seek to visit the Premier or an appropriate Cabinet Minister. Written contacts are usually most effective, initially, as actually getting appointments to visit are likely to be difficult, given demands on time.

For detailed contact information for Ministers and Members of the Parliament of New South Wales, see the Members section of this website.

All Australian Parliaments, including the Commonwealth Parliament, have similar contact information on their websites.

Many Ministers and Members also maintain their own websites, which may include social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook and may be contacted directly through those avenues.

For information on petitions to Parliament, see the relevant section in this part of the website.