Introduction
Political campaigns entail a significant input of effective communication skills. The candidates need to connect effectively with their subjects to convince them. More so, the campaign events should be strategically planned across the campaign duration to achieve the campaign goals. This literature aims to discuss Mr. Justin Clancy’s campaign for general elections, where he seeks to represent Albury’s citizens in the New South Wales parliament. Mr. Justin Clancy embraces a liberal approach in his political undertakings. He is determined to connect strongly with his subjects during service delivery. Mr. Clancy is actively involved in community activities. He is a member of the Sports, Animal, and Health Advisory Committees (Liberal New South Wales.org). More so, he is an advocate for social change and works to ensure community development. He has been at the forefront of enacting community development initiatives, such as improving infrastructure to aid farmers. Mr. Clancy’s political philosophy promotes freedom in society. He believes freedom will enable Albury’s citizens to achieve their full potential.
Mr. Justin Clancy will run for Albury’s member of parliament seat. Albury is an electorate that was established in 1880. History indicates the dominance o the Liberal parties since the electorate’s establishment. New South Wales has a legislative assembly comprising 93 members. The Constitution dictates that any person eligible to vote in the NSW can vie for the post of member of parliament. Members of the legislative assembly serve a four-year term (Parliament of New South Wales). An election is held after this duration, where the public will decide the next legislative representative. A candidate with more than half the preference votes is declared the winner. Under whatever circumstances that may cause the sitting member of parliament exits office before the end of their term, a by-election will be conducted.
Stakeholders and issues analysis
Albury faces several challenges, such as inadequate infrastructure, access to healthcare, and unemployment. A New South Wales report indicates a significant population growth of the Albury region in the last five years, averagely at 1.58% annually (Australia Bureau of Statistics). This rising population places pressure on the existing infrastructure. Albury thus needs an improvement in its amenities, such as bus services, to serve the growing population. More so, the citizens need to renovate roads and construct more to reduce congestion during travel. Improved bus routes will improve challenges in the accessibility of essential services in the region. Albury’s inhabitants equally face challenges in access to quality healthcare services. The electorate needs more allocation of funds towards improving the health sector. Albury requires more money to acquire quality hospital facilities, increase hospital equipment acquisition, and renovate existing facilities. Lastly. Albury region faces a considerably high rate of unemployment. The Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates an average 4% unemployment rate in 2023. Although this figure is lower than the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods’, the electorate can achieve more job creation with the deployment of competent strategies. Employment opportunities are unequally distributed through the electorate. There is a higher rate of unemployment in rural compared to urban areas. Stakeholders in Albury’s administration are people affected by the electorate’s leadership decisions. They include persons in numerous sectors such as health, transport, businesses, education institutions, local government, and citizens. Local citizens are the main stakeholders since all the leadership policies, directly and indirectly, affect their welfare. Businesses, local governments, and educational institutions are also influenced by steps to develop the infrastructure and enact leadership policies.
National and international issues equally affect the development and welfare of electorates. Albury faces national issues such as the current inflation situation. Like most countries globally, Australia faces a high cost of living. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported an average inflation rate of 6.0% in June 2023, which is relatively higher than the rates in developed economies globally (Australian Bureau of Statistics). Albury’s citizens need help accessing amenities and services as their purchasing power is reduced. More so, a complex healthcare funding system affects access to services by the Albury residents. The OECD notes a complexity in healthcare funding since it intertwines federal and state government inputs without a clear jurisdiction (OECD.org). Albury citizens are affected by the interplay between public and private healthcare funding. This system has eliminated market healthcare regulation which affects budgeting. Rising costs in implementing up-date healthcare technologies also affect the Albury healthcare sector. International issues such as climate change are also prominent among Albury residents. Manufacturing industries in the electorate hinder the reduced emissions goals. They are faced with demands to uphold environmental conservation legislation. Climate change activists note increasing hot days and decreasing cold nights, which hints at environmental degradation. Extreme heat affects livelihoods in the electorate.
Political strategy
Mr. Justin Clancy should focus on the challenges faced by the residents of Albury to draft his campaign strategy. He should focus on issues such as the improvement of infrastructure like roads which will improve accessibility. Residents of Albury can contribute to the supply chain of agricultural produce and relevant raw materials to the rest of the country. He should also focus on addressing unemployment rates in this electorate. Creating job opportunities aids in improving productivity which steps up the GDP. Mr. Clancy will gain significant leverage if he presents a practical method of solving the health funding challenges in his electorate. He should engage his subjects on viable mechanisms to improve hospital amenities and provide insurance. More so, addressing the climate change challenges in the electorate is vital. He should campaign for the provision of green energy and reducing carbon emissions. These green energy agendas have been highly embraced across the world. Numerous countries target to achieve minimal carbon emissions by 2030. Campaigning by addressing current challenges illustrates the candidate’s vision for his electorate.
Campaigning requires the intermarriage of diverse techniques to achieve a political organization’s objectives. Most of Justin Clancy’s strategy will include effective communication strategies, which will win the voter’s approval. He should communicate his input to change the challenges residents face in Albury. Mr. Clancy can utilize rallies to present his manifestoes to the citizens. This will improve his outreach as citizens can directly listen to his views. He can gain a first-hand experience of his supporters’ views. Mostly, the turnout will hint at his influence in the region. The audience’s response to his speech will indicate their approval of his ideologies. Furthermore, Mr. Clancy should capitalize on social media engagement. He can post his tours through the electorate on social media platforms to engage voters virtually. Voters who cannot physically attend his rallies will receive communication via social media. Direct involvement in community projects will boost the candidate’s credibility. For instance, the candidate should participate in projects to launch improved healthcare services. He can also help some of the patients offset their medical bills. This direct involvement in solving community challenges assures the residents of Albury that the candidate will actively participate in solving their challenges when in office. In politics, a candidate will maximumly achieve their goals by informing, persuading, and integrating the voters.
This campaign strategy aims to improve Mr. Justin Clancy’s outreach to the voters and also ensure he achieves the Albury electorate seat. It also targets to reach the majority of the voting population, mostly from 20 to 65. This campaign is geared towards:
- Improving audience engagement. It will engage the voters through social media platforms and debates.
- It also targets selling the candidate and party’s manifestos. The candidate will conduct rallies to ensure they reach many voters.
- The campaign targets to mobilize diverse groups in the Albury region. It factors in the challenges of different groups in the whole electorate. It aims to promote inclusivity and diversity through the process.
- The campaign also aims to understand the challenges of the Albury citizens further. Through the outreach, the campaign will identify further challenges the Albury citizens encounter.
- This campaign strategy aims to sensitize the Albury residents to vote in large numbers. It will emphasize the importance of the voter’s input in improving the standards of the electorate.
- Finally, the campaign strategy targets to promote Mr. John Clancy’s electorate victory. It will convince the citizens to agree with his manifesto.
Political campaigns face numerous challenges, primarily when conducted in a culturally diverse region. Prospective leaders should strive to address difficulties encountered by each group. Mr. John Clancy is likely to experience challenges in mobilizing the youth. The Australian Bureau of Statistics data indicate a higher turnout of persons above 70 years than age groups 20 to 24 and 25 to 29, respectively (Australia Electoral Commission). He must allocate policies that motivate the youth to vote for him in office. For example, he should include practical job creation strategies in his manifesto to convince the youth to turn up massively for the election process. Studies also indicate that political public reputation is essential to winning voters’ hearts. Mr. Clancy should utilize social media platforms that will reach numerous youths. He should maintain a desirable public reputation that will acknowledge youths’ importance in the voting exercise. Youths may often fail to vote since they feel insignificant in the decision-making. He may also have a challenge engaging the indigenous tribes, such as the Aboriginals. Indigenous groups may have demands which collide with the manifesto. For instance, structural development may require land which the indigenous groups can be adamant about releasing. To win the approval of such communities will require consultation with their elders before deciding how to empower them.
Mobilizing third parties will have a beneficial impact on Mr. Clancy’s victory. Third parties have more influence on Albury’s citizens. First, religious institutions are crucial third parties that can help reach larger audiences. Mr. Clancy will identify religious institutions which connect with his manifesto and utilize them as a platform to sell his manifestos. More so, he can make donations to non-profit organizations, which will promote his acceptability by the Albury community. Also, approaching these non-profit organizations with favorable policies will help gunner support among the residents. Lastly, worker unions are viable third parties that will help strengthen Mr. Clancy’s support in Albury. He will develop policies that will target to improve worker welfare. This consideration of worker welfare will improve their support and guarantee a successful campaign. His manifestos should, however, also include policies that will benefit the functionalities of these third parties. This campaign will be conducted across the electorate. It will target all 19 localities in the electorate. Rallies will be conducted in four localities each week till the election month.
Conclusion
This political campaign strategy requires intermittent analysis and evaluation to guarantee the end goals are achieved. We will evaluate the quantifiable aspects, such as the level of engagement. Digital campaign strategies are easier to evaluate since we can analyze trends. This campaign strategy will evaluate voter engagement on social media platforms. It will occasionally administer polls to gather information on the voters’ views towards our policies. These polls will also check whether the audience understands the policies and manifestos. Such evaluation criteria will be used in adjusting our campaign strategies to ensure maximum voter engagement. Campaign success is also dependent on available resources. The success of This campaign will also be periodically evaluated by accounting for the available resources. Accountability will also ensure that the campaigns occur uninterrupted. If the candidate lacks sufficient funding, the political party will request funding from third parties and well-wishers. Lastly, this campaign strategy will benchmark its success to national comprehensive and regional polls. Polls conducted by external bodies will also hint at our candidate’s political strength. This political campaign strategy targets soliciting Albury residents to vote in huge numbers for Mr. John Clancy. Members of the campaign team will also provide views and observations of the encounters during the campaign practices. These observations will also function as an evaluation of the effectiveness of the campaign strategy.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023). Consumer Price Index, Australia. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/consumer-price-index-australia/latest-release
Liberal New South Wales.org Meet Justin. https://nswliberal.org.au/justin-clancy/meet-justin
Parliament of New South Wales. Electing assembly. https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/electingtheassembly/Pages/Electing-the-Assembly.aspx#:~:text=Any%20person%20qualified%20to%20vote,listed%20on%20the%20ballot%20paper.
OECD.org. Health Policy in Australia. https://www.oecd.org/australia/Health-Policy-in-Australia-f
Australia Bureau of Statistics (2023). Labour Force Australia. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia/jul-2023
Australian Electoral Commission (2023). Elector Count by division, age, and gender. https://www.aec.gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/Enrolment_stats/elector_count/index.htm
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