Decisions are made by those who turn up By AHA national President Scott Leach
In recent months, when speaking to members across Australia, I have constantly made a key point, namely, that is for our association to reach its full potential, it is vital for all members to participate in their local communities. All politics starts locally, whether that be a city suburb, a regional centre or a small country town. Members should get to know their local MPs, their local Mayor and councillors, their local police officers and their local newspaper editors and community leaders – hotels have always been at the heart of their local communities and always will be. The local publican is in a key position to provide balance in their own community on issues affecting our industry. Members are knowledgeable. Members are at the coal face. Members deal with the issues affecting their venues and patrons on a daily basis. I am asked constantly “what can I do, on a personal level, to make a difference in the public debate?”
The answer?
Work hard on community connections, engage with your community leaders and become part of the conversation.
But firstly and most importantly turn up and take part.
One of our greatest strengths is that we have about 6500 hotels spread across all electorates. Places where people – including most politicians - gather to talk and swap opinions and ideas and gauge the mood of their electorate. And there is no better barometer than the local publican.
That’s why the more individual publicans who are involved in discussions, the more knowledge and balance there is out there in the community about our industry the better. It is the quality of our members, their own unique knowledge and insights, which gives our industry strength right across Australia. Outcomes and debates can be favourable, or they can be challenging, but the most important thing to do is continue to front up at every discussion. We believe we can be – and are - the voice of reason on a range of issues from the backpacker tax to penalty rates, often in extremely challenging political climates. That’s when it is vital to keep up the message at the local level on who we are, what we represent and why our venues are an important part of the social fabric of their communities. I have been visiting the AHA State and Territory branches to meet with local hoteliers and update them on how the national office engages on policy issues – my advice to them on how they can contribute is that decisions are made by people who turn up. So get involved and voice your opinion, even if it’s not popular. We are getting better and better at doing this, but until we fully engage at the local level across all states our association will never reach its full potential.
We need to go beyond what any other group does and we have the capabilities and the will to do this.
The message is simple – decisions are made by those who turn up.
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enquiries@tha.asn.au 03 6220 7300
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