Digital Communications — Bevan Eatts MLA · Mary Adelaide
Mary Adelaide
Digital Communications
Bevan Eatts MLA
Proposal · April 2026 · Confidential
Warren–Blackwood · 42nd Parliament
01

What this is

A proposal for digital communications support

This sets out how we strengthen the way your office captures, manages, and communicates.

The focus is not on increasing volume. It is on continuity, follow-through, and visibility across everything you already do — including how the website connects to the rest of the operation.

How the system could work
View the companion overview
02

The opportunity

The work is happening. People just can't see it.

The office operates with genuine community trust, clear values, and a way of working that earns respect across party lines.

The opportunity is to make what happens in Parliament visible to the people it was done for. Speeches, questions, motions — these reach stakeholders directly, but they don't consistently reach the constituents who raised the concern in the first place.

That gap is not a failure of effort. It is a gap in translation — between parliamentary activity and the communication that closes the loop.

The work is already happening. This makes it visible.
03

What we know

Starting from your current reality

The team is small and capable, currently operating at reduced capacity. Constituent contact is arriving across multiple channels with no unified tracking. Parliamentary activity is distributed to stakeholders through a direct workflow, but is not consistently reaching a broader audience in a form people can engage with. Questions on Notice are already valued as a tool — they are not yet being used as a communication asset. Meta reach is constrained and needs to be addressed. The website is actively maintained but not yet connected to a broader communications rhythm. AI is already embedded in how the office produces content — that is an asset, not a problem.

The current model works because of the people running it. The system builds a structure underneath that so it continues to work regardless of capacity or timing.

04

What this delivers

Six things that will be different

Parliamentary work reaches constituents

Every significant action produces a post within 48 hours. People can see what was done and why.

Nothing gets lost on the way in

Constituent concerns arriving via the website, social, and direct contact are logged and tracked. Patterns become visible.

Advocacy groups are part of the record

Where community organisations are involved in an issue, their role is visible — on the website and in collaborative social posts.

Meta works the way it should

The current constraints on paid reach are identified and addressed. A clean, sustainable structure for future use.

The website is audited and improved

Site performance, SEO, and analytics are reviewed. Recommendations made, with implementation available as part of the engagement.

Less reliance on memory

A simple shared structure means the operation works regardless of who is in the office on any given day.

05

Scope of work

Three areas of focus

System

A shared register connecting constituent concerns to parliamentary actions. Intake routing across website, social, and direct contact. A weekly brief: what came in, what is new, what still needs a post.

Content

Posts published within 48 hours of parliamentary actions. Collaborative posts with advocacy groups. Community and recognition content. Explanations of parliamentary tools in plain language. A backlog of existing parliamentary actions translated and published.

Website & Meta

Audit of site performance, SEO, analytics tools, and form flows — with recommendations and implementation. Separate audit of Meta Business Manager configuration and resolution of current paid reach constraints.

How content is made

Content is produced using AI-assisted drafting and Canva for design — the same tools already embedded in how the office operates. A photo from a community event becomes a post within minutes. A parliamentary speech becomes a caption the same day. A template handles visual consistency so nothing needs to go to a designer.

This means publication-ready content at the pace the 48-hour rule requires — without agency overhead or additional creative contractors.

Collaborative posts

When an advocacy group is involved in an issue — whether they provided evidence, co-signed a position, or attended a stakeholder meeting — the post reflects that. A collaborative Instagram or Facebook post tags both accounts so both audiences see the work.

This is not just a social tactic. It is how advocacy groups get recognised publicly for the role they actually played. It strengthens the relationships that make the parliamentary work stronger.

Coordination & approvals

A collaborative post requires real choreography. The right contact at the partner organisation needs to receive the copy in advance, confirm they can be tagged, and approve the timing. Their comms person may need sign-off. Their handle needs to be confirmed across every platform. None of this can happen ad hoc inside a 48-hour window without a system behind it.

This is managed through a stakeholder social profile — a simple record maintained for every organisation the office works with regularly.

Stakeholder Social Profile — example record
One per organisation · Maintained in the register
Organisation
Southern Forests Timber Industry
Social contact
Jamie R. — Communications Lead
Facebook handle
@SFTimberIndustry
Instagram handle
@sf_timber
Approval process
Copy to comms lead 48hrs before. CEO sign-off for policy positions.
Lead time needed
48 hours minimum
Collab post format
Meta collab tag preferred. Joint caption agreed in advance.
Last post together
CALM Bill — Jun 2025
Every organisation the office works with has a record like this. When a collaborative post is warranted, the coordination is already mapped — not rebuilt from scratch each time.
06

Delivery model

Flexible from the start

Support can scale up or down depending on workload. Based on what I know about the operation, 2 days per week is the right starting point — with the option to move to 3 days while the team is running lean, and a review once full capacity resumes.

Half day
per week

Direction and light system design. Best if the team wants to run the system internally with external guidance.

1 day
per week

Core system built and running. Posts, register, weekly brief. The minimum for a functional operation.

3 days
per week

Everything at 2 days, plus near real-time responsiveness during sitting weeks and accelerated Meta and website resolution. Well-suited to the current period while the team is at reduced capacity.

07

Fees

Clear, auditable, fortnightly

Work is billed at $120 per hour, invoiced fortnightly in 12-minute increments. Time is logged against specific tasks — content, system work, website, Meta, and strategic input are tracked separately so the office always has a clear picture of where time is going.

Level Weekly hours Fortnightly Monthly (approx)
Half day per week 4 hrs $960 ~$2,080
1 day per week 8 hrs $1,920 ~$4,160
2 days per week ✦ 16 hrs $3,840 ~$8,320
3 days per week 24 hrs $5,760 ~$12,480
On market rate. $120/hour reflects current market rate for senior digital communications and political operations work in Perth — covering strategy, implementation, and content in a single engagement. The rate is set for a long-term relationship, not a short project.
Billing
Invoices issued fortnightly with a brief time summary. Payment within 14 days. No minimum term — the engagement continues as long as it is delivering value.
08

What I still need to understand

Before the system is designed

These are the operational questions that will shape how everything is built. They are best answered in a working session — not a form.

Platforms & Access
  • What does the current tech stack look like — website, communications, internal systems, government-provisioned tools?
  • Is the backend primarily Microsoft, provisioned through DPC?
  • How were the Meta accounts originally configured — pages, ad accounts, ownership?
  • Was the ad account restriction a payment issue, identity verification, or a policy flag?
  • Is there an existing Business Portfolio, or are pages managed through personal accounts?
Website & Analytics
  • How is site activity currently measured — is there any analytics tool connected to Squarespace?
  • Is SEO actively managed, or has it been left to defaults?
  • Are form submissions currently being tracked or analysed in any way?
  • What integrations, if any, are currently connected to the site?
Capture & Flow
  • Is there currently anything functioning as a CRM, even informally?
  • What is the typical lag between a constituent making contact and receiving a response?
  • Are inbound requests tracked in any way — volume, issue type, location?
Content & Distribution
  • What is the typical lag between a speech being delivered and the recording becoming accessible?
  • Is there a structured stakeholder list, or is distribution managed from memory and personal contacts?
  • Is there a newsletter or direct email communication with constituents?
Advocacy Groups
  • Which community and advocacy organisations does the office currently work with most actively?
  • Is there an existing process for coordinating collaborative communications with these groups?
  • Are any groups already publishing content that references Bevan's parliamentary work?
Geography & Engagement
  • Are certain LGAs more active than others in terms of incoming contact?
  • Are there regular in-person events or constituent touchpoints across the electorate?
09

Approach

How this will be built

Everything built on existing tools where possible. Nothing introduced that creates new overhead for a small team. Simple enough to maintain independently. Built around how the office actually works.

The aim is that within the first week, something is already running. Not a plan — something live.

10

Next step

A working session

A working session to map current flows, confirm the engagement level, and agree what gets done in week one.

Scope confirmed. Engagement begins.

Not more content. Better continuity.
Outcomes, not grandstanding.