After the election: How to engage with a new state government

With State Elections happening almost every year, political landscapes are constantly changing. Understanding how your organisation can prepare and react to these changes is a crucial part of maintaining connections, building relationships and ensuring you are well positioned regardless of the outcome.

Balancing new and old relationships

Regardless of the result, a balanced approach is best. Continue to nurture the relationships you’ve already built, including with key stakeholders whose roles may have changed or who may no longer be in government, while beginning to establish relationships with those stepping into new positions. This doesn’t mean reaching out to anyone you’ve ever corresponded with, but those key people you’ve built a relationship with should be acknowledged.

As for any new MPs, they won’t be as familiar with your work, and newly appointed ministers may be familiarising themselves with the landscape of the new role. 

Reaching out early and establishing yourselves as a partner who can bring information and grounded experience to help them move forward is an excellent way to develop an early relationship. When handled well, the changing of the political environment acts as a chance to welcome new relationships while maintaining those that have already been established, serving as a chance to build on engagement work.

Getting the lay of the land

Not every election produces a clear majority, and understanding how the balance of power sits is crucial to tailoring effective engagement.

If the governing party doesn’t have a complete majority, independents and minor parties often find themselves holding impactful leverage. This matters even more in states with different voting systems across the upper and lower house as proportional voting systems often yield more crossbenchers than preferential voting systems.

A few things worth checking before you begin your engagement include:

• Does the government need crossbench support to pass legislation in either chamber?
• Have any confidence and supply arrangements or informal deals been made?
• Which crossbenchers have publicly stated priorities that overlap with your organisation?\

Build relationships while keeping goals in mind

As you begin to form new relationships and departments begin to set priorities, ensure you are looking forward to the next budget and other key decision-making moments. This early period is often when a new government’s priorities and approach are still taking shape, making it an important opportunity to engage early and help inform the conversation.

A few practical steps:

• Reframe asks around election promises. Consider how your priorities align with the new government’s commitments and broader agenda, and frame your asks in a way that demonstrates how they can help deliver on those priorities.
• Map the machinery of government changes. As portfolios get reassigned, merged and otherwise altered, track where your key issues lie, and who your key targets are.
• Get on the front foot. Budgets are being discussed and deliberated on long before submissions are due. Start conversations early and position yourself to achieve early impact 

Final thoughts

Any change in government after an election doesn’t undermine the government engagement that you have worked towards, it instead presents an opportunity to reassess your approach, review the political landscape and form new relationships across the government.

For organisations looking for tailored support in approaching government engagement, Fifty Acres can help you approach it with confidence and clarity.