iLobby powers NZ anti-GE lobby groups

iLobby powers NZ anti-GE lobby groups

Two of the main New Zealand GE opposition groups will be using iLobby (www.ilobby.net) to connect a concerned public with an ambivalent Government and help force democratic change in GE policy.

New Zealand-based lobbying services company iLobby will be providing at no cost an email submission channel for Mothers Against Genetic Engineering (MAdGE, www.madge.net.nz), the high-profile lobby group organised by Alannah Currie.

iLobby will also be providing cost-free support to Take 5 (www.take5.net.nz), a more broadly focused campaign, which aims to utilise mobile phone text messages as well as an iLobby email campaign to get the GE moratorium extended for a further five years.

iLobby provides a unique, web-based service that connects people with their democratically elected representatives and other key influencers of public policy.

Unlike ordinary on-line petitions, each iLobby response initiates an individual and personalised email letter which is delivered directly to the inboxes of key influencers - in this case, the Prime Minister, her front bench, plus electorate and list MPs.

iLobby aims to extend the reach and efficacy of the MAdGE and Take 5 campaigns by offering any webmaster in New Zealand a linking button which they can download from the iLobby site. This means any organisation or company which supports extending the GE moratorium can add a graphic iLobby button to their website linking visitors directly to the anti-GE iLobby campaigns.

iLobby is also prepared to provide its resources at no cost to other anti-GE lobby groups to help them mount their own online lobbying campaigns.

“If your group already has a web presence and a committed support base, it is an easy process for us to provide you with a customised iLobby email campaign. All you have to do is provide a written submission, a list of your desired target recipients – MPs and other key influencers – and we could have your anti-GE iLobby up and running in a few hours,” says iLobby CEO Martin Brown.

With just over a month to go before the moratorium is due to be lifted, time is short and the stakes have seldom been higher. iLobby says it will monitor the response to both campaigns it is assisting and, if necessary, step in with some communications support of its own in the form of a poster and press campaign.

iLobby believes this is the most important single issue facing New Zealand since the 1981 Springbok tour.

“But where the tour divided people, this time we have the opportunity to unite the country,” says Mr Brown.

“In recent times it has been difficult for the average citizen to see democracy in action. This is the New Zealand public’s chance to take control of their destiny again.”

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