A Meeting with Abbott

Hello Fellow Public Relations Interns,

I began my internship a little bit before Christmas with an organisation called Oxfam. This is my first post so I thought I would give you a little briefing on what Oxfam is about.

Oxfam is a worldwide not for profit organisation who work directly with impoverished populations around the world. The main aim for Oxfam is to devise methods, while working with people from the community, to stop poverty and injustice and introduce sustainable human rights efforts.

Where do I fit in to this massive conglomerate of people trying to save the world? Well Oxfam is split into many different sections and subsections each with different roles, tasks and objectives. I have been teamed up with W.A’s Campaigns Coordinator, Paddy Cullen. Together we are working on trying to raise awareness to members of the Australian government on the effects climate change is having worldwide.

Skipping forward just a little, Paddy invited me to attend a forum with him where the leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, would be attending. It’s not every day you have the opportunity to meet with someone as influential as the leader of the Opposition, so naturally I jumped at the opportunity. Below is a picture of Paddy giving Mr Abbott a copy of a climate change report devised by Oxfam.

At this forum I also had the opportunity to meet with Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash who spoke very highly of Oxfam and supported a lot of the anti poverty campaigns Oxfam has developed over the years. Michaelia Cash also invited myself and Paddy to make an appointment with her if we were ever in Canberra to further discuss some of the action we wanted to see on climate change. The forum was not only a way to directly be in contact with government members, but I also had the opportunity to do some personal networking with other influential people in my area. I was lucky enough to gain two separate contacts in both government and public relations, one of which I have since been in contact with and have picked up some more hands on experience in my field. Below is a picture of Paddy and Michaelia Cash.

Once we got back to the office I went straight to work. After a 10 hour day and no lunch, I had written up a media release which was sent to 4 local newspapers and a blog which got put onto the Oxfam website. It was very satisfying seeing my very first professional blog being posted and members of the public commenting on it. It all happened very quickly and I learnt that time is a very precious thing in public relations.

I have to say I am very excited to see what is next in store for my internship. I’ll keep you posted…


Lori Black