Be the Sticky-Taped Card

04 Jun Be the Sticky-Taped Card

Dear Here to Help,

It seems that a lot of what you do – government advocacy or public policy – is about fixing things that should never have happened in the first place. It all feels a lot like locking the stable doors after the horse has bolted.

Can we fix the stable before the horse bolts and help government make decisions that are good for our Australian community?

That is an excellent question.

Most people are reactive; they wait for the horse to bolt and then complain they can’t get it back in the stable. But we can anticipate that the horse will bolt and formulate different ways to prevent it escaping. As you point out, this creates a lot of reverse workflows. And this time and effort could be better spent creating positive outcomes.

So, how do we step in and help government make better decisions in the first place?

Perhaps the best way to explain this is to talk about when I worked for government, designing and implementing government decisions. We consulted about most of our decisions before public announcement.

It was the generally same group of mostly middle-aged white men who turned up to each meeting, saying pretty much the same thing they said the last time we saw them, with more or less passion. Sometimes, they represented the same group as the last time we saw them. Sometimes, they represented a different group to the last time we saw them and funnily enough “swore” that their new opinion was the correct one.

I went into my first public consultation with well-thought-out questions for the consultation panel. Most of the attendees responded with a stream of words that were largely unrelated to my questions.

However, from time to time, someone would turn up to a public consultation and try to answer my questions. Someone would jot down my questions and tell me they didn’t have the answer then and there, but could they look into it further and come back to me.

These people stood out from the crowd – they seemed interested in the public policy outcome for the whole Australian community and for the country’s future. They were willing to spend their time and effort researching and then give me an honest and well-thought-out response.

These were the business cards that stayed sticky-taped to my computer monitor. These were the people I developed a trusting relationship with. And, as time went on, I rang them earlier and earlier in the policy development process.

So, if you want to help build the stable to keep the horse from bolting, be the “sticky-taped” business card. Develop a trusting relationship with government public policy officials and provide them with well-thought-out policy input and proposals that benefit the Australian community as a whole.

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, June 2026. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.