Tammy's blog

About the blog

A kinda boring, long read, for which we are deeply sorry

This is a small part of the site that isn't managed by Tammy. It's on her site, and it's there because she believes in giving you — and people like you — an insight into what we're working on.

That's not without risk. It's brave.

People could read this and attack us for thinking before we speak. They could weaponise what's here and use it against Tammy.

The fact that she's aware of that and prepared to have this here anyway tells you something about her, and what she values.

It also tells you a bit about why we're here, working for her.

There aren't many politicians who'd disagree that staff play a tremendously important role in the day-to-day operation of a politician's life. It's staff that answer calls, prep for meetings, help things tick along. Staff do the things that happen behind the scenes. If we're dong our job well, you don't notice what we're doing.

At least, that's always been the way things have been.

But is that the way things ought to be?

Because if staff are so important to the process, yet are unelected, and don't answer to the public, and don't have names or faces that are recognised, is that right?

It's genuinely an open question. None of us get into politics to be famous or get our names out there in lights (we use pseudonyms here, so if self-promotion was really the goal, we would be terrible at it). So we don't wish to be more recognised.

But ultimately we're working on your behalf. Our boss is an elected member of Parliament. She's the one who decides if we're here or if we're gone. She's the one who's elected. What she does with that platform, and that power, impacts on you. And we're the ones that are tasked with converting her passions and her priorities into meaningful impacts so that she can be as effective in getting things done as she can possibly be.

So to the extent that she's working for the public, we're working for the public.

That puts you in a position where you should probably get an insight into how we're doing that work. After all, we're doing it to help you. If we give you a look at what we're doing in the interest of helping you, and you tell us that it's a terrible idea, or there's a better way to do it, or that we're on a winner and to go harder, that's good for us. That helps us shape the work we do. For Tammy, and for you.

So here's where we give you that insight. It's a look at what we're working on, what we're thinking about, how we're responding to things that are happening in our worlds and how that is shaping the work we do for Tammy.

And its' a chance for you to have your say about it too.

The goal with the blog is for it to be a two-way conversation. We don't want to shout at you and tell you this is how things simply must be. We want you to tell us how you want things to be, how things could be better, and we want to work with you to make that happen.

So hopefully this brings you a bit of a look at the way we're doing that. And if you absolutely love it, or absolutely hate it, our inboxes are open.