Credit: Hans Herzog Estate

ACTIVATION TOOLKIT: CONNECTING WITH YOUR LOCAL MP

Our elected representatives make decisions that affect the quality of life and freedom of choice for consumers and farmers across Aotearoa New Zealand. They want to hear what people in their constituencies think about the decisions made by their parties. Use the resources on this page to support you to meet or write to your MP.

  1. FIND YOUR MP: MPs represent you in Parliament. You can contact an MP to discuss the Gene Tech Bill.

    Find your local MP here.

  2. MEET WITH YOUR MP: Email your local MP requesting a meeting to discuss your worries about the Gene Tech Bill. A meeting is your opportunity to explain why the regulation of Gene Technology is important to you/your business. Use our GE Deregulation: Key Talking Points or the main issues close to your heart. The role of an MP is to work on your behalf (and they usually want to get re-elected!), ask for their support and let us know how it goes.

  3. WRITE TO YOUR MP: Writing to your local elected member of Parliament is a great way to raise your concerns about the Gene Tech Bill. It’s quick and easy, plus it helps your MP to represent you and your views in parliament.

Tips for writing to your MP

Email or handwritten letter? Handwritten letters really stand out – just think about the last time you received one! But MPs will also respond to emails, and some prefer to correspond this way.

Include your name and address. If it’s your first letter to your MP, start by introducing yourself. MPs only listen to concerns from their constituents, so include your address and postcode to confirm they need to listen to you, and so they know where to send a response.

Make it personal. Use your own words to explain why you care about this issue. You could talk about relevant facts and figures, explain how GE deregulation will impact you and consider including a personal story relating to the issue. This will make your letter more memorable – MPs get sent lots of things from constituents, so you want yours to stand out.

Ask your MP to do something. After you’ve explained the issue, it’s important to tell your MP what you want them to do about it. You’ll want to ask them to take action. State how you think they can they help to solve the problem is really helpful.

Keep it brief. Be concise and get to the point quickly. Aim to keep your letter short (a page or two, max) and stick to a single issue to make it clear what you want your MP to focus on addressing.

Ask for a response. You should ask your MP to confirm that they’ve acted and clarify what they’ve done in a response to your letter. And if you haven’t received a reply from your MP after a few weeks, follow up via email or by calling their office to check that your letter arrived.

Say thanks. If your MP has done something positive, say thanks – they’ll appreciate it.

Letter template

MPs are most likely to respond to a personalised letter, especially one written by a passionate constituent who explains why an issue is so important to them.
However, if you need some guidance on how to set out your letter, here’s a template example you could use to help you write to your MP.

{YOUR FULL ADDRESS}

{YOUR POSTCODE}

{DATE}

Dear {MP TITLE + NAME},  

My name is {YOUR NAME}, and I am a constituent of {YOUR CONSTITUENCY}. I am writing to you today because I am concerned about the fast-tracking of GE deregulation (Gene Technology Bill). This is particularly important to me as {EXPLAIN KEY REASONS AND ANY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES THAT HAVE INFORMED THIS}.  Use our GE Deregulation: Key Talking Points or outline the key issues close to your heart.

I am asking you to take the following steps to address my concerns:  

{BULLET POINT LIST OF CLEAR ACTIONS}

{DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE A REASONABLE TIME FRAME}

In your response, I would like you to outline how you intend to address this on my behalf. If you cannot address this personally, I request that you escalate my letter to the relevant Minister or department.  

Please do keep me informed of any progress made.  

I look forward to hearing from you.  

Ngā mihi,  

{YOUR NAME}


Any other questions? ­­

If we haven’t answered your question about writing to your MP, please email info@oanz.org, and we’ll do our best to help.

TAKE ACTION + SHOW YOUR SUPPORT