Nsw Labor Federal Campaign Report

2016 NSW LABOR FEDERAL CAMPAIGN REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 2016 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CANDIDATES 4 2016 SENATE CANDIDATES 6 FIELD DIRECTOR ORGANISING PROGRAM 7 DIGITAL CAMPAIGN PROGRAM 15 THANKS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 16 1 2016 FEDERAL ELECTION RESULTS 2 INTRODUCTION KAILA MURNAIN NSW LABOR GENERAL SECRETARY The Federal Election result for NSW Labor was NSW Labor would like to thank the work undertaken outstanding, with 24 of 47 seats in NSW now held by by Affiliated Trade Unions, led by Unions NSW and the Labor. Labor won additional seats of Barton, Dobell, ACTU, and the work undertaken across NSW to directly Eden-Monaro, Paterson, Macarthur, Macquarie, and communicate with voters on issues such as Medicare, Lindsay. schools funding and jobs. NSW Labor ran the largest direct voter campaign in its To our rank-and-file Labor members and supporters in history led by an extraordinary group of talented and NSW, we would like to thank you for your tireless efforts. energetic Field Directors and Organisers who gave their all for this campaign. Fortress NSW is getting stronger, and it’s because of the work you are doing on the ground. During this election, NSW Labor made over 334,657 calls and door knocked over 276,855 homes including more You should be proud of this result. than 72,000 contacts in the last week alone. I look forward to working with you as we work towards Our campaigns activated over 8,000 new volunteers the 2019 State and Federal Elections, and continue to across the State. build a bigger, stronger and more diverse Labor Party for the future. The largest swings to Labor were observed in NSW, including a 10.9% swing in Paterson, and an 11.9% swing in Macarthur. We welcome new Members of Parliament including Linda Burney, Emma McBride, Emma Husar, Mike Freelander, Susan Templeman, Meryl Swanson, and Anne Stanley. Also returning to Canberra is the formidable Mike Kelly. Kaila Murnain Of our NSW contingency to the Federal Parliament, 50% NSW Labor General Secretary of our representatives are women. This is a record for NSW and smashes the target our Party set at the Annual Conference earlier this year. We would like to thank our amazing organising team including Jay Suvaal, David Dobson, Todd Pinkerton, Crystal Validakis, Jess Malnersic, Mitch Wilson, Ed McDougall, Brendan Byron and Dylan Parker. The NSW Labor Organising Centre played a key role in the election. Operating in Parramatta and in Sydney CBD, giving volunteers from around Sydney a chance to influence campaigns in key target seats. 3 2016 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CANDIDATES Chris Gambian Linda Burney Lyndal Howison Josh Andrews Jason Clare BANKS BARTON BENNELONG BEROWRA BLAXLAND Katie Gompertz Jess Jennings Ed Husic David Atkins Damian Wood BRADFIELD CALARE CHIFLEY COOK COWPER Sharon Bird Emma McBride Mike Kelly Chris Hayes Fiona Phillips CUNNINGHAM DOBELL EDEN-MONARO FOWLER GILMORE Anthony Albonese Michelle Rowland Diedree Steinwell Aoife Champion Joel Fitzgibbon GRAYNDLER GREENWAY HUGHES HUME HUNTER Matt Thistlethwaite Emma Husar Peter Alley Mike Freelander Rhonda Funnell KINGSFORD SMITH LINDSAY LYNE MACARTHUR MACKELLAR 4 2016 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CANDIDATES Susan Templeman Chris Bowen Andrew Punch David Ewings Sharon Claydon MACQUARIE McMAHON MITCHELL NEW ENGLAND NEWCASTLE Peter Hayes Janelle Saffin Kate Stewart Julie Owens Meryl Swanson NORTH SYDNEY PAGE PARKES PARRAMATTA PATERSON Angelo Tsirekas Justine Elliot Tim Kurylowicz Anne Charlton Pat Conroy REID RICHMOND RIVERINA ROBERTSON SHORTLAND Tanya Plibersek Andrew Woodward Tony Burke Evan Hughes Anne Stanley SYDNEY WARRINGAH WATSON WENTWORTH WERRIWA Stephen Jones WHITLAM 5 2016 SENATE CANDIDATES SAM DASTYARI SIMON SHUO ZHOU JENNY McALLISTER JAGATH BANDARA DEBORAH O’NEILL MIRIAM RIZVI DOUG CAMERON MARY O’SULLIVAN TARA MORIARTY PAUL HAN VIVIEN THOMSON AFSM ALEX COSTELLO 6 ORGANISING TO WIN In 2016, NSW Labor undertook one of the largest field campaigns in the Party’s history. The 2016 Field Organising Program focused primarily on the importance of direct voter contact between voters and Labor Party volunteers, and the power of this contact to connect with and persuade voters to vote Labor. The Field Organising Program can be divided into a series of three distinct stages, each defined by their own campaign activities and goals. These included: VOLUNTEER VOTER PERSUASION RECRUITMENT CONTACT In 2016 the Field Organising Program achieved the following: CONTACT TYPE QUANTITY Phone Dials 334, 657 Doorknocks 271, 569 Candidate Doorknocks 24, 391 Candidate Calls 56, 516 7 8 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FIELD ORGANISING PROGRAM The Party sought to professionalise the role of Field Directors and grant them autonomy over the management of their budgets and achievement of their campaign goals. In order to do this, Labor invested in a training program for Field Directors to skill them up in campaign activities undertaken by the Party, as well as on the Field Program’s stages and the expectations of Field Directors from the Campaign HQ. Prior to the establishment of a seat campaign, the NSW Campaign HQ consulted Field Directors and Campaign Organisers on appropriate goals that should be set for candidates and their teams. These goals were reviewed on a weekly basis in Campaign Organiser meetings and occasionally refined to ensure campaigns were increasing their field activity. Field Directors were also responsible for managing volunteer co-ordinators, fundraising officers and other campaign activity co-ordinators. Weekly Organiser meetings were also used as an opportunity to encourage campaigns to meet goals, discuss issues in achieving them and to provide guidance on switching to different phases of the field campaign. CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEERS Labor mobilised more than 8000 volunteers for direct voter contact in 2016. It was a strong focus of the campaign to drive teams towards local volunteer recruitment. Organisers frequently reported that campaign teams that had mobilised large numbers of local volunteers were receiving the strongest feedback from the community. 9 NSW LABOR ORGANISING CENTRE The NSW Labor Organising Centre was a space developed for the 2015 State Election so Labor members could assist candidates and campaigns contacting voters on local issues. Building on the success of the 2013 Federal Election Campaign HQ, the Organising Centre uses a contact system that is parallel to those used internationally and gives Labor members and supporters the chance to campaign centrally in the most effective way possible – through direct community interaction. During the 2016 Federal Election Centres were utilised in the Sydney CBD and Parramatta. This allowed 100s of volunteers to get involved, assisting marginal seats across the State. 10 EARLY VOTING Over the last few election cycles, it has been a developing trend for voters to cast their votes prior to Election Day or by other “non-ordinary” means. Non-ordinary voting includes, votes such as postal voting and pre-poll voting. The 2016 Federal election saw a continuation, and acceleration of this trend. This was acutely the case for pre-poll voting. Pre-poll made up a greater proportion of total voting than at any other election. NSW Labor implemented a pre-poll strategy, targeting those voters who were likely to cast a ballot at one of the hundreds of pre-poll booths around the state. This strategy involved moving the persuasion stage of the voter contact cycle forward for those voters who were likely to pre-poll. NSW Labor also focused contact on those voters who were statistically more likely to pre-poll. A similar strategy was implemented for postal-voters, the impact of which was a dampening of the postal vote swing to the Liberals. 11 TRAINING Labor’s emphasis on direct voter contact means that training Labor activists is now more important than ever before. The NSW Party Office established a number of training programs to ensure campaigns were as prepared as possible for the campaign. These programs included: • A Three week Field Director training program, featuring campaigning experts from across Australia. • A twelve week intensive Campaign Insight program, culminating in a two day residential on the Central Coast; • A series of one day training seminars; • A Candidate Training Day in April 2016 • A “Train the Trainer” seminar in April 2015 FIELD DIRECTOR TRAINING NSW Labor’s Field Director training, held in January 2016 was the most rigorous of it’s kind in the Country. The three week program included peak campaigners from across the country. It covered many of the core areas of campaigning in unprecedented detail. Areas covered included finance and disclosure, direct voter contact, digital campaigns, advertising, media, material design, volunteer recruitment, adult training, and data analysis. The program allowed participants to experience both the practical and theoretical elements of campaigning, and gave them first hand access to some of the top progressive campaigners. The Field Director Training gave field directors the skills they needed to run campaigns across every target seat in NSW. It included guest speeches by Michelle Rowland, Richard Marles, Chris Bowen, and Deborah O’Neill, amongst many others. Field Directors who participated in the program include: Alex Morrison Liam Rankine Zachary Harrison Brendan Byron Luke Maxfield Paul Mills Daryl Tan Thomas McCrudden Ariane Psomotragos Emily Baldwin Alex Costello Oliver Plunkett Inge Stainley Jimmy Bai Jack Power Jennifer Light James Hammerton 12 CANDIDATE TRAINING DAY On 16th April 2016 NSW Labor hosted Members of Parliament, Candidates for NSW and opposition leader Bill Shorten. The day was spent training the new candidates on media and fundraising, social media and direct voter contact. There were also presentations by Kaila Murnain on strategy, Mark Morey on the Unions NSW campaign, and by staff from the National Secretariat and Party Office. CAMPAIGN INSIGHT The Labor Intensive Campaign Insight program is the premier campaign training program in the country. The program culminated in a two day residential on the Central Coast. Labor members from across NSW took part in the twelve week program focused on strategy, message, planning, targeting and management.

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