Australia's Changing Political Landscape
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THE SHELLISSUE 17 Autumn 2021 AUSTR A LI A'S CHANGING POLITICAL LANDSCAPE W MEN FIND THEIR VOICE 1 Welcome to the autumn edition of The Shell for 2021. Spring is meant to be the season of renewal and regrowth, yet here we are deep into autumn and in Australia at least it feels like we have emerged from a long dark winter of COVID discontent. How a group of Sydney I was fortunate to attend the Australian Football League’s annual ANZAC Day match last Sunday with another 78,000 residents took on the might or so spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was the largest sporting crowd anywhere in the world since the of the Australian Defence coronavirus pandemic forced major sporting events to be played before empty stands. Force and won Whether they were on the winning or losing side (I was on the latter) every person I spoke to post-match was thrilled that proper footy was back. For Melburnians – who suffered the longest lockdown of any group of Australians – the feeling of joy was palpable. Change was in the air – something that is not isolated to sport in Australia. The last few months have seen the issues of workplace gender equity and sexual harassment and violence against women front and centre in Australia. There is a real sense that positive change is afoot. Managing Partner, Kathy Lindsay, examines a simple way voters can increase female political representation in her piece Benjamin Haslem, Managing and on page 14. The issue of increased female representation in Federal Parliament, particularly on the conservative benches, Founding Partner will be one of the burning issues in the lead up to the next Federal Election, due before the middle of next year but On page 18, Dr. Mallory Peak and Shireen Khinda from our Spokane, which could be held as early as this October. United States-based IPREX affiliate, DH, explain how the Washington State Department of Health ensures priority communities receive accurate Our Chairman, John Wells, argues on page 12 that trust will be information about vaccinations and COVID-19 prevention behaviours. Wendy McCarthy being interviewed by the ABC the biggest determinant of the election and that more than ever before people want leaders they can trust to deliver on You can learn about what our other IPREX partners have been up to in our Wells Haslem Mayhew helped a group a residents in Sydney in a successful David-and-Goliath battle promises. John also recalls his time as press secretary to then regular IPREX global update on pages 22 and 23. Federal Opposition Leader, Andrew Peacock, who died on 16 with Defence, stopping the construction of a giant electrical sub-station just metres from children’s Thank you for reading our latest edition of The Shell and thank you to our April. Read John’s reminiscences on page 10. clients, who make it all possible. bedrooms. Benjamin Haslem and Mark Rapaport explain. To get us in the election mood, on page 8 our Tasmania Benjamin Haslem affiliate, Martine Haley, places a lens over Apple Isle politics It was a few days shy of Christmas 2019, many Sydneysiders seeking details of the proposed substation and various other Managing and Founding Partner ahead of the State’s 1 May election. already sliding into holiday mode, bushfire smoke shrouding the information including the health implications of its electro- city’s harbour. magnetic field and the fate of the two huge, significant ficus Talking Tassie, on page 6 Senior Account Executive, Mark trees on the site. Rapaport, writes about how Tasmanian art gallery MONA At a block of eight art-deco apartments in Potts Point, called for Indigenous Australians to give their blood for an overlooking the Garden Island Royal Australian Navy base, The secretary’s letter sought an assurance that no work should artwork but failed to properly consult the very community it someone was stuffing a single-page, 17-line leaflet into the commence until he had received a reply. thought it was helping, sparking a crisis. building’s letterboxes. The secretary received no response until 11 January when Mark also pens a piece with me on page 3, where we recount Its contents would stun and anger those living there – many Department emailed him simply to say it would be replying to how Wells Haslem Mayhew helped a group of Sydney residents in a successful David-and-Goliath battle with Defence. successful and high-profile individuals from Sydney’s political, his letter the following week. legal, arts and finance sectors – and bring together strange This was a smokescreen for what followed the next day when On page 24, Account Executive, Caitlin Stevens, writes about bedfellows from across the political spectrum. the Public Relations Institute of Australia’s Young Guns and the two trees adjacent to the apartments were cut down and why it is important to support our PR leaders of the future. While many apartment residents had already decamped for removed. their summer break, the few still there were suddenly made Caitlin also profiles Wells Haslem Mayhew client Youth Finally, on 14 January, 23 days after the secretary’s letter of aware that in less than a month a major redevelopment was due Insearch on page 16 and its recent third annual successful concern, the Department replied to some but not all the matters to commence a few metres from their balconies. social media campaign to highlight its fight against youth raised. That was also the day that mechanical digging equipment suicide. But even then, so vague were the 17 lines deposited on 20 began work on the site. December, they were not entirely aware of just what Defence Account Manager, Stav Pisk, recently attended the annual At a subsequent meeting with Defence, the strata committee IPREX Emerging Leaders Conference, which was conducted had in mind – though it was clear an electrical substation of was made aware for the first time that the substation would online due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Read about the some sort was planned. virtual get together on page 20. be four-storeys high and that it would be almost within spitting As soon as residents received the leaflet, the secretary of the distance of their balconies. building’s strata committee wrote to the Defence Department 2 3 Their building had been constructed We prepared a comprehensive advocacy and discussed possible approaches to A rebrand to better in 1927, fronting onto the water with document, putting the residents’ case to achieving a successful outcome for our harbour views to match. By 1946 with government and the media. clients. reflect a modern the linking of Garden Island to the At the heart of the advocacy was the Residents also used their extensive mainland, the block faced directly onto appalling lack of consultation with the political contacts to write to local organisation the base, and overlooked a small sports residents – virtually none – undertaken Federal Labor MP, Tanya Plibersek, and field lined with trees. Many of the by Defence until the very last minute. the Federal Liberal MP for the nearby residents had purchased or moved into electorate of Wentworth, Dave Sharma the building with the full knowledge The advocacy cited the fact that Defence MP. Both local MPs raised their concerns that they lived next to a working naval told the Federal Parliamentary Joint Australia’s second-oldest charity – and a Wells Haslem Mayhew client – has changed its name. with Minister Price. base, but never expected to have a Standing Committee on Public Works at Managing and Founding Partner, Benjamin Haslem, examines the reasons why. large, loud substation to replace the a public meeting on 11 May 2018 that WHM presented the case to a senior open field, and particularly without they had undertaken routine extensive adviser to a Senate crossbencher, who consultation. community consultations. then put questions on notice about the The Wells Haslem Mayhew team “And once they do, it’s just as easy for more than 50 years at North Rocks in Garden Island redevelopment to the has had the pleasure of working Western Sydney to a new Centre of With five children living in the The apartment block’s residents were them to understand all the ways in which Defence Department at a Parliamentary with the Royal Institute for Deaf Excellence in Vision and Hearing at apartment block, residents were also told through political contacts that we support them and their families.” Committee hearing. and Blind Children (RIDBC) over the Macquarie University. anxious about the health effects of MPs and Senators on the Joint Standing In describing the genesis of the new past six months, helping its team such a large substation, never mind the Committee – which approved the project WHM contacted the ABC’s Defence name, Chris said Next signalled the The North Rocks site is no longer able to communicate with the Australian and fact their views across the base toward – had toured the site in 2018 but were not Correspondent, Andrew Greene, who organisation’s ongoing commitment to provide an environment that supports NSW Governments. glimpses of Sydney Harbour were also shown the site nor told that a substation reported on the residents’ battle, innovation at every level of service. contemporary, targeted services that blocked or compromised. was planned. interviewing Wendy, and another The RIDBC, Australia’s second oldest meet the needs of children and adults “We're here to break down barriers, and resident and her young children about charity, took the bold step of changing with vision or hearing loss, their families But what made residents angriest was Defence told the Parliamentary work with our clients and their families the fears caused by the substation in a its name to NextSense, to better and the professionals who support the quick realisation that Defence had Committee that community to achieve whatever they want to.