Starting Out

Hi everyone, it took me a while to get around to getting a work placement but I’m here now and it’s pretty awesome. I managed to wrangle a placement in the electoral office of John Hyde the member for Perth and Shadow Minister for the culture and the arts; heritage; multiculturalism and citizenship (however I’m still a bit vague on what the citizenship portfolio actually includes).

For the first day or two time seemed to fly, and there was always new gossip/important information (I arrived 10 days before the Buswell and Carles saga and had the privileged distinction of knowing before the rest of the state {aren’t I lucky}) and other things to learn such as work place etiquette i.e. which of the many people you meet appreciate you being yourself and who expects you to be a bit more professional. I played it safe by trying to be professional all the time but in a Labor office you find the teasing begins early for the work experience kid (in a nice non-bullying way) who tries to play it too straight.

Besides the expected ‘learning how to fit in to a new workplace’ I’ve been given the task of doing up timelines and documents pertaining to different issues the Shadow Minister is chasing in parliament. With access to parliamentary reports and other interesting documents it is my job to plot events and find inconsistency in order to work with the Shadow Minister in drawing up Questions on Notice.

Although this might not be something we practiced or were even taught at uni I’ve found that many of the research techniques and skills I refined doing projects helped with the execution of this task. Preparing Questions on Notice isn’t too dissimilar to generating a targeted media release. In a media release you have to pour over every word and constantly ask yourself what am I saying here, how will it be read, will they throw it in the bin before reading to the end, what possible alternate readings could the target audience create and how to make it crystal clear so the chance of an alternate readings is reduced. In drafting a QoN you have to ask yourself what do I really need to know, what do I suspect the answer will be, what does the evidence or data suggest and can the minister avoid answering the question if I phrase it too vaguely or too specifically. It is almost the reverse of a media release instead of providing information to a possibly disinterested journalist you’re attempting to get it out of someone who is more than happy to sit behind confidentiality and supply answers that don’t quite match up with what you thought you had asked. And once you have your answer you need a question ready and waiting to go for the Shadow Minister to follow the answers he receives.

I have only had to prepare one media release thus far but found preparing it way-more-fun than drafting the many I have had to do at uni. It probably had something to do with the anticipation and thoughts swirling through my head about whether or not the Shadow Minister will give it his okay, change it drastically or simply ask why you thought you could cut it at this level. Luckily for my self-esteem I got minor changes with a bit of feedback so I’m fairly ‘stoked’ with that; although he did drop my headline which I thought was a cracker.

Writing letters to constituents responding to correspondence and mailing out birthday cards also help fill up a day in an electorate office and although many of the tasks at first don’t appear to be public relations the longer you stick at it the more you understand how everything you say or do has an impact, either intended or not so, which changes peoples perceptions, understanding and in some cases their behaviour, from taking out the recycling bins to the front of the office, to landing a well scripted punch in the chamber.