What is advocacy?

Advocacy is the act of supporting or promoting a specific cause, idea, or group to create positive change in society.

Advocacy can involve speaking up or acting on behalf of others to influence decisions, policies, or public opinion.

Australia has over 600,000 community groups of vastly differing sizes and shapes, groups that provide a voice to advocate for someone or some issue.

Advocacy can take many formats. You could be lobbying for new lights at the local football ground, planting more trees to add shade at your local park, or calling a government agency for a loved one who doesn't understand the technology - these are all examples of advocacy.

Core Types of Advocacy

Self-Advocacy: An individual’s ability to communicate, negotiate, and assert their own rights, interests, and needs.

Individual Advocacy: A person or organization speaks up for one or two individuals to secure rights, services, or support, ensuring their voice is heard.

Systems Advocacy: Focuses on changing policies, laws, rules, and attitudes that affect a group of people, aiming for long-term, structural, or legislative change.

Forms of advocacy often overlap, with the goal of empowering individuals to make their own choices while protecting their dignity and rights.

Informal Advocacy: Friends, family, or allies supporting someone informally.

Formal/Professional Advocacy: Paid or trained professionals who provide specialized support to navigate systems.

Imagine an Australian society without the following systemic advocacy efforts:

• If people with disabilities were still locked behind the walls of institutions, excluded from society, denied autonomy, and unable to participate in community life.

• If the dangers of asbestos were never recognised and banned, workplaces and homes across the country would still expose people to this deadly material, leading to devastating health outcomes like mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.

• If seatbelt laws were never championed, allowing avoidable deaths and severe injuries on Australian roads to continue unchecked.

• If child safety education never led to mandatory pool fencing laws, drowning incidents in residential swimming pools would remain a tragic and all-too-common reality.

  
  

These advocacy efforts have shaped a safer, healthier, and more inclusive Australia, demonstrating the transformative power of systemic change.

QCMA's mission is to advocate for Queensland coal mine workers while they work hard extracting a public-owned resource for the benefit of the public.