Campaign for Australian Aid takes bold step to get Treasurer Joe Hockey’s attention via Agency

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Joe_Breakfast.jpgThe Campaign for Australian Aid via Agency, is taking its issue to Treasurer Joe Hockey’s front door today, placing a full-page advertisement in his local paper as it tries to change his mind on further cuts to the program.

This unusual step follows two weeks of silence on the issue, from the Treasurer, after more than 10,000 Australians emailed him calling for a fairer aid budget.

Agency, the creative studio focussed solely on social change, has partnered with the campaign to draw attention to the biggest cuts to Australia’s aid budget in the nation’s history and is bringing an innovative spirit to the cause.

cfaa.mosmandaily.jpgThe Campaign for Australian Aid has called on Hockey to reconsider his sweeping cuts to the Australian aid budget through prominent print and digital advertisements warning him to ‘Expect interruptions.’ Since 16 April, more than 10,000 emails have already been sent to the Treasurer, and other federal MPs through the campaign’s website interruptjoe.com.

Frustrated by a lack of comment from the Treasurer, the Campaign for Australian Aid is upping the ante with a specifically targeted advertisement in Mr. Hockey’s local paper, the Mosman Daily.

Says Adam Valvasori, campaign organiser: “Australian aid plays an instrumental role around the world, opening up opportunities for school, healthcare, and business to people who otherwise would miss out. We live in the land of a fair go, and Australian aid is one important way that we showcase our national character to the world.”

The campaign has already planned its next step if the local paper advertisement is not successful.

Says Valvasori: “We will be following it up with two mobile billboards on scooters, following Mr. Hockey asking for a response.”

In its short history, the campaign has tried innovative ways to get their issue into the public eye. Beginning in February this year, the campaign took a fully-branded food truck to universities in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. They have produced a quirky ‘Fairness Test‘ to test whether Australians are really as fair as they think they are. Now, they are micro-targeting advertisements in the hope of swaying the opinion of one of Australia’s most powerful politicians.

Says Valvasori: “We’ve suffered the biggest cuts to our aid budget in the history of our nation. 20% of all this government’s savings have come from aid – so it’s high time for us to try something different and showcase the public’s support for a fair aid budget.”

The first of a purported $11 billion of cuts over the next four years is due to take place when the budget is announced on 12 May. In preparation, many of Australia’s largest international aid and development organisations have already begun to prepare for deep cuts to their life-saving projects.