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<br><B><A name=_Toc53747087><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">PA learns lessons on political campaigns</SPAN></A></B>
<P><I>This article first appeared, under a different title, in the August 2003 edition of </I>Association Management<I>, the magazine of the Australian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE). It is reproduced with permission.</I></P>
<P>‘Power is not a thing,’ we were told in Politics 101 classes. ‘It is a relationship.’ </P>
<P>Power and influence were complex concepts. They were about complicated, often messy relationships between many players all trying to get each other to do things. </P>
<P><B>Creating Professions </B><B>Australia</B><B></B></P>
<P>That is certainly how it has seemed in the last year to Professions Australia (PA), a national organisation of professional associations, as it has worked with others to try to reform professional indemnity insurance policies. But, despite the complexity, there has been change and success.</P>
<P><I>Professionals use specialised knowledge to benefit their clients and the community. They study and become qualified, become bound by a code of ethics, go into practice or take up employment, and develop relationships of trust with clients. </I></P>
<P>Most professionals join a professional association. There is the Australian Medical Association, the Australian Dental Association, the Law Societies, CPA Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, the Institution of Engineers, Australia, the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, the Audiological Society of Australia, and many others.</P>
<P>Some thirty years ago, some of these bodies established the Australian Council of Professions to represent the views of professionals to government and to promote professionalism. The Council had early successes. It set up State Branches and held regular meetings and occasional conferences. </P>
<P>By 2002, however, the Council was starting to struggle. Some of its member associations judged that it no longer offered value for money and withdrew their membership. Others felt they were well able to lobby governments on their own and did not need a peak organisation. Professional groups generally were dealing with aging memberships and a declining willingness of individuals to be involved in associations. </P>
<P>Change had to come. Twelve months later, in mid 2003, things are looking much better for the organisation, now known as Professions Australia (PA). It has a higher profile, it has regular exposure in the media and with governments, it provides a steady stream of information from Canberra through its Alerts and Newsletters, it has a revamped and regularly updated website (www.professions.com.au), it has expanded its Board, modernised its membership criteria and reduced its fees.</P>
<P><B>The professional indemnity insurance campaign</B></P>
<P>One important reason for PA’s increased exposure has been its campaign, along with other stakeholders, to reform professional indemnity insurance arrangements. The PA campaign got under way in May 2002 with our submission to a Senate Committee inquiry into insurance. But the campaign really took off when PA began to work in October 2002 with the Liability Reform Steering Group (LRSG) set up by the accounting profession. </P>
<P>Since then, PA has brought three main things to the professional indemnity campaign. First, it has been a credible umbrella entity for delegations, submissions and letters to the media. PA has spoken on behalf of ‘a broad coalition of the professions’, some of them currently paid-up member associations of PA, others potential or former members who are being prompted to join or rejoin by their involvement in the campaign. </P>
<P>Secondly, PA has provided a link to the non-accounting professions – the engineers, architects, audiologists, quantity surveyors and others – who are also experiencing PI difficulties. No-one can plausibly say this is ‘just an accountants’ campaign’.</P>
<P>Thirdly, PA has worked in the front line of the campaign to raise awareness, write letters, wait on politicians, badger journalists, develop lobbying kits and so on. It has been extremely time-consuming but commitments have gradually been extracted from the nine governments involved. </P>
<P>The professional indemnity campaign has been seeking three main policy outcomes: </P>
<P>
<UL>
<LI> proportionate liability, where damages for economic loss are apportioned among multiple defendants according to their contributions to the damage; </LI></UL>
<P>
<UL>
<LI> professional standards legislation in the states and territories, to provide equitable caps on payouts for damages for economic loss caused by members of professional associations, in return for mandatory insurance cover and commitments to undertake risk management; and </LI></UL>
<P>
<UL>
<LI> amendments to the Trade Practices Act and other Commonwealth legislation to complement professional standards legislation. </LI></UL>
<P>At the time of writing, there are good signs that this campaign will be successful. </P>
<P><B>Lessons from the campaign</B></P>
<P><I>The professional indemnity campaign has been of great benefit to PA as an organisation as well as leading, we confidently expect, to positive outcomes for professionals across </I><I>Australia</I><I>. It has shown us a number of things, too, about how professional associations should run political campaigns.</I></P>
<P>1. <B><I>Build relationships across a broad coalition of organisations seeking change.</I></B> PA has worked closely with many other organisations, companies, professional lobbyists and interested individuals in the professional indemnity campaign. Between us, we have had activists in almost every state and territory and in over twenty professional associations. We have consulted organisations ranging from the Australian Consumers Association to the Australian Institute for Non-Destructive Testing </P>
<P>2. <B><I>Recognise that every member of the coalition has a unique contribution to make.</I></B> As noted above, PA has brought unique contributions to the group but so have, to name a few, the actuary with intimate knowledge of the insurance market, the government relations manager with a history in previous similar campaigns, the lobbyist with access to government ministers, the large accounting firms and national law firms, and the professional associations from outside PA who broadened our range of anecdotes about professionals suffering from premium increases and policy exclusions.</P>
<P>3. <B><I>Never assume that people know what you are talking about; start from the basics and repeat the message again and again in varying forms.</I></B><I> </I>While the professional standards legislation model, in particular, has a long history, its details were not well known and have had to be spelled out in an understandable way. But ministers have needed less detail and different emphasis to bureaucrats.</P>
<P>4. <B><I>Build on people’s strengths and networks.</I></B><I> </I>The coalition has been blessed with lawyers and accountants, actuaries and auditors, engineers and architects, all of whom have had experience of and knowledge in particular areas of insurance and how it impacts on professional practice. Others have had intimate knowledge of the politics of different states. Consequently, the coalition has very rarely needed to send people into a lobbying meeting who lacked some background in the subject matter or some knowledge of the protagonists across the table.</P>
<P>5. <B><I>Don’t be afraid to enlist governments in your coalition.</I></B> At different times we have found ourselves working with the states and territories to encourage the Commonwealth to move in a particular direction and then, later, working with the Commonwealth to influence the states. Federalism breeds complex and sometimes frustrating relationships.</P>
<P>6. <B><I>Use the media because it will try to use you.</I></B> The coalition has received a good run in the Australian Financial Review, less so in other journals and on television and radio. Journalists need a story, those seeking reform need a platform, their interests often coincide. Professions Australia was able to build a profile for the coalition with some op-ed pieces and letters and, provided stories had a good ‘angle’, journalists have been amenable to us building on this early success.</P>
<P>7. <B><I>Coordinate and stay ‘on message’.</I></B> Once or twice the campaign hiccuped because, say, someone put out a media release that was negative, when the trend of our campaign at that time was to be positive. Generally, however, members of the coalition have worked extremely well together and the messages have gelled nicely.</P>
<P><B>PA’s value statement</B></P>
<P><I>PA has a ‘value statement’: I = 4i. When a member association makes an investment (I) in PA it expects a return (4i), consisting of better information, greater interaction between member associations, improved internet presence, and increased influence. </I></P>
<P>We at PA believe that we have delivered increased influence and tangible results through our work with our valued LRSG colleagues on professional indemnity insurance reform. We believe also that we have learnt valuable lessons about the relationships that generate power and influence. </P>
<P><I>David Stephens</I></P>
<P><BR><BR></P>
<P align=left><BR><BR><SPAN> </P></SPAN>
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