Jeremy Porter

New York Communications Consultant

  • Home
  • Start here: Comms 101
  • About Jeremy
  • Clients
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • More
    • Advertising 101
    • Writing resources
    • Subscribe

Dump the Dump

When a government breaks its word many people give up. But if you’re a small community in remote Australia with a nuclear waste dump planned for your land, that’s not an option.

The challenge

muckaty-radioactive-drum-400The incoming government in 2007 promised that a nuclear waste dump proposed by the previous government would not be built on Aboriginal land. It broke that promise. Without proper consent, the government was intent on dumping the nation’s nuclear waste on the land of a small community — out of sight and out of mind.

Despite our best efforts to get the Minister to meet the traditional owners of the land he refused every time.

My work

Pic by Dominic O'Brien. Traditional owners from Muckaty, near Tennant Creek, NT come to Melbourne for legal meetings about their federal court case against a nuclear waste dump on their country. L to R Posing infront of a billboard in Northcote are Gladys Brown, Mark Lane, Jeannie Sambo, Dianne Stokes and Doris Kelly.To support this community and put pressure on the Minister, I was part of a team that created the campaign to “Dump the Dump”.

I was the communications lead on the campaign and took responsibility to bring this issue to national attention. I focused the communications strategy on the Minister for Resources and Energy — the man who broke his word.

Every time he refused, we made sure the media knew about it. We ramped up the campaign by taking out strategic full-page newspaper ads and erected a billboard in the Minister’s electorate carrying the message “He Won’t Listen To Us, But He Answers to You.”

Again, when we secured national media in multiple outlets it added more scrutiny on the Minister and the government.

The outcome

Muckaty VictoryDespite bi-partisan support, the government dropped plans for the dump  in 2014.

The dump had become untenable after years of community opposition, legal challenges, and a smart public awareness campaign.

Other work

Greenpeace

Strategy, narrative, and messaging for a new global campaign

Minimum wage campaigns

Shining a light on inequality in the U.S.

River campaign

Standing up to a well-funded lobby group

Political campaign

Helping a political party refresh its image and reach 13 million voters

Justice Connect

Rebranding a human rights and justice organization

Popular this week

  • A step by step guide to creating great key messages
  • A step by step guide to creating a communications strategy
  • Know your issue? You also need to know how to frame it
  • A quick look into the six principles of influence
  • Message grid: Ill, Blame, Cure, Consequence

Search

© Jeremy Porter