You’re invited to sign the pledge to help ‘lift the tone’ in an effort to address the increasing abuse and intimidation faced by local government elected representatives and council staff.
Last week the Local Government Association of Tasmania launched our Lift the Tone campaign to address the increasing abuse and intimidation faced by elected representatives and council staff. This campaign calls on all Tasmanians to stand against abuse and commit to respectful communication. Toxic behaviour—whether online or in public—hurts individuals, families and our democracy.
Alarmingly, a recent survey by LGAT revealed that almost 80% of surveyed elected representatives in Tasmania have experienced abuse in the past two years. While social media was the most common setting (almost 50% of the incidents), concerningly, direct face to face abuse was reported 37% of the time. This included verbal assaults in public while with family members and acts of intimidation, such as nails being thrown in driveways.
We are asking community leaders like you to “sign the pledge” in support of the campaign.
You can do this at https://www.lgat.tas.gov.au/lift-the-tone/sign-the-pledge or just by indicating your support by return email.
We cannot allow abuse against elected representatives and council staff to undermine our community – we all have a responsibility to Lift the Tone.
Thank you for your support of local government trying to foster respectful debate.