Your Top Issue
Action on Climate Change
Overall rank: 1st | 28% said this was their top issue | 93% rated this as high priority
Once again this rates as the #1 issue for GetUp members. And with a government intent on dismantling Australia's hard-won progress, we've got our work cut out for us.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
We've already held massive nationwide rallies, launched Australians for Climate Action and worked with 350.org to convince Uni Super to offer a fossil-free investment option in the last few months alone.
WHAT'S NEXT
We'll continue to build power and presence offline in communities around the country, as we campaign to save key pieces of climate infastructure like the Renewable Energy Target. We'll work together to hold our politicians accountable, as we also pursue innovative new ways to bypass government inaction and put people power to work directly for a more sustainable future.
Your Top Issue
Fair Treatment of Refugees & Asylum Seekers
Overall rank: 2nd | 15% said this was their top issue | 86% rated this as high priority
Just as it seems things couldn't get much worse for asylum seekers in our care, GetUp members are demonstrating that out of sight definitely does not equal out of mind: with this issue ranking number two across our Vision Survey for members nationwide.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
Recently GetUp members held more than 750 Light the Dark vigils all over the country. We've kicked off an innovative citizen-funded journalism campaign, and 50,000 GetUp members signed a petition to shut down Manus Island detention centre, with many sending postcards for their local MPs.
WHAT'S NEXT
We believe there's an opportunity for a profound turning point in this refugee debate this year, and we intend to make the most of it. That means continuining to develop our citizen-funded journalism campaign to help change the public debate. We'll also continue to work towards the closure of expensive, dangerous and inhumane offshore processing centres and call for an end to children in detention.
Your Top Issue
Fight to Save Medicare
Overall rank: 3rd | 9% said this was their top issue | 91% rated this as high priority
A brand new campaign that's heating up – the fight to save Medicare as we know it is on and ranks in GetUp members' top three issues.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
We have made clear that we will stand together to protect a universal healthcare system that looks after all Australians and which we already pay for through our taxes.
WHAT'S NEXT
We will work together through the budget process and beyond, holding Senators from all sides of politics accountable to vote vote down Mr Abbott's "sick tax". This isn't about what Mr Hockey thinks $7 can buy. It's about our nation's promise to its people: in this country, all citizens have a right to healthcare.
Your Top Issue
Regulation on Coal Seam Gas
Overall rank: 4th | 8% said this was their top issue | 91% rated this as high priority
What do Australian farmlands, healthy families and drinking water all have in common? They're all under threat from unregulated coal seam gas mining.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
From chipping in to TV, radio and print ads, lobbying our MPs, making submissions to Government inquiries and generating a huge national petition -- GetUp members working alongside local groups have made tremendous progress on protecting our land, water and communities from unchecked coal seam gas expansion. We now have regulations requiring fugitive emissions to be accounated for, as well as the impact on water catchments.
WHAT'S NEXT
While progress has been made we still need proper protections in place for farmers and communites, water catchments and natural areas. Upcoming state elections present key opportunities for legisative reform, and GetUp members remain passionate and active on this issue.
Your Top Issue
Saving our ABC
Overall rank: 5th | 7% said this was their top issue | 92% rated this as high priority
It's our ABC, not their political punching bag.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
It's been GetUp's fastest-growing petition ever: a quarter of a million Australians have joined the campaign to protect our ABC. GetUp members have funded high-profile outdoor advertising in Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott's electorates. In the lead up to the budget we aired television ads in Canberra and targeted regional areas and took out a full page ad in The Australian while members around the country delivered their own copy of our huge petition to local MPs.
WHAT'S NEXT
The 1% budget cuts to the ABC and SBS were a broken election promise, but we know it would have been much, much worse without people power on the ground, on the airwaves and in MPs' offices. ABC and SBS are clearly still at risk from those with an ideologically-driven agenda, so we intend to remain vigilient and vocal. Politicians have to hear the message that it will cost them too much to meddle further. Hands off our ABC!
Your Top Issue
Keep Elections Fair
Overall rank: 6th | 7% said this was their top issue | 88% rated this as high priority
Protecting the integrity of our democracy is where it all starts – and it's no surprise that this issue is core for GetUp members.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
Our landmark court cases to stop the early closing of the electoral roll and allow people to enrol to vote online have stopped literally hundreds of thousands of Australians from being disenfranchised.
WHAT'S NEXT
Now we're keeping the pressure on in QLD, whose Attorney-General has already responded by toning down the most damaging elements of the State's planned voter ID requirements. We'll continue working to ensure every Australian gets a voice at the ballot box; that our representatives are elected fairly without undue influence of money and that they remain accountable to us over special interests.
Your Top Issue
Protect the Great Barrier Reef
Overall rank: 7th | 7% said this was their top issue | 93% rated this as high priority
The Great Barrier Reef has been one of GetUp's hottest campaigns this year, and shows no signs of slowing down.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
GetUp members have contributed a staggering $300,000 to fund two seperate legal cases against the Federal Government, in order to stop mining development, dredging and dumping on the Reef. We've amassed huge petitions, including a 262,000-strong petition to the Environment Minister, and more than 4000 people stepped out for a Rally For The Reef in streets of Brisbane.
WHAT'S NEXT
The two legal cases GetUp members have helped fund are underway, and we're now targeting overseas investors in order to stop the financing needed for companies to wreck the Reef. GetUp members are funding full-page ads in the European Financial Times targeting Deutsche Bank and we're backed on the ground by our German sister organisation, Campact. This is truly a global campaign that people from all walks of life are passionate to win, and we will not let the voices of greed overpower us.
Your Top Issue
Protecting Tassie Forests
Overall rank: 8th | 5% said this was their top issue | 92% rated this as high priority
We've seen some big wins for protecting Tassie's ancient forests -- but alarmingly they're now under threat. Our Federal Government wants to de-list vast areas of forest from world heritage protection, opening them up to logging.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
Recently tens of thousands of GetUp members, in partnership with The Wilderness Society, backed a petition to protect Tassie's forests. Members also made a whopping 8,500 submissions to the Senate Inquiry on World Heritage in Tasmania, making up 99% of the total submissions.
WHAT'S NEXT
We're targeting World Hertigage Committee members through paid online and offline advertising in Qatar, where they will meet to make vital decisions in June. We're also continuing to ramp up pressure on the State and Federal governments alongside campaign allies.
Your Top Issue
Fighting the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
Overall rank: 9th | 3% said this was their top issue | 84% rated this as high priority
We've never seen a "trade agreement" quite like it: massive, top-secret and driven by corporate special interests.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
Most Australians have never heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and key politicians want it that way. Mobilising community concern over something as un-sexy trade negotiations is a tough sell, but GetUp members in regional areas have already begun urging their MPs to speak out against the agreement, which would force up prices on key goods like medicines and give un-elected corporations vastly more power to sue and control national governments.
WHAT'S NEXT
This campaign is still in its infancy, but we know we've got to get the word out. We're developing cut-through communications (videos, shareable social media images) in order to empower everyday Australians with the knowledge we need to stand up for our interests before it's too late.
Your Top Issue
Marriage Equality
Overall rank: 10th | 2% said this was their top issue | 70% rated this as high priority
Love is love. The majority of Australians clearly support marriage equality, and the GetUp movement is primed to help make it happen.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
During the recent vote in the ACT, GetUp members contributed our photos, time and words to ask ACT MPs to recognise equal love, and pass laws in support of marriage equality. We were part of ceremonies and celebrations in the six-day period where marriage equality was legal in the ACT; and fought against the High Court Challenge which ultimately overturned those laws. Meanwhile, in NSW, thousands of GetUp members also lobbied our MPs in the critical lead up to a recent vote. And our iconic "It's Time" video has now reached a staggering 14 million views.
WHAT'S NEXT
We now know that if Tony Abbott decided to allow his party's MPs to vote their conscience on this issue, marraige equality would become law of the land. We'll continue to work with movement partners, creative leaders and voices in the community to achieve this at the earliest strategic opportunity.
Your Top Issue
Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous People
Overall rank: 11th | 2% said this was their top issue | 82% rated this as high priority
Justice, reconciliation and the advancement of Indigenous peoples are core to our nation's story and to our movement's values. These cannot be dealt with in a single campaign or moment, and so require vigilence, thoughtfulness and willingness to act when our contribution can be most strategic.
WHAT'S HAPPENED:
There have been many important campaigns, from sounding the alarm over Northern Territory intervention laws to protecting Indigenous voting rights in QLD, working with elders fighting for their homelands, and much more.
WHAT'S NEXT
One of the biggest opportunites on the horizon is to win the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia's Constitution. This would require a national referrendum, and we're working closely with partners and allies to best support this campaign as it unfolds.