Cheers @DanielAndrewsMP + team. Very appreciated.

For this next haul (starting with reopening, ending with vaccines) we are going to need THE BEST communication & explanation, written/visual/audio/etc.

For all our sakes, PLEASE get Vic's best ppl on this. Think laterally.

Your personal communications have been very good (at lecterns). Explaining to everyone what we've needed to do has been variable. Some effective. Some confusing. At this point what we need are a lot of simple messages, paced out, delivered in ways that grab attention.

We're needing to hear nuts and bolts and numbers and diagrams, but we're also needing to understand better how you and @VicGovDHHS and other relevant departments are handling things. What does contact tracing look like? What will a "hot zone" look like? How are hospitals going?

This doesn't mean "comms", like what goes out in govt newsletters that people don't read. This means actual real communication that is paid attention to. People are about to relax a bit. They're about to take their eyes off your media calls and your posters and your radio ads.

You are competing for attention with the Murdoch press. You are competing for attention with the new show on Netflix. The difference is that if you don't get enough "eyeballs", people will die.

So I'm begging you -- not as an officeholder in a fine association, not as someone touting for work, but as someone who doesn't want to expire, separated from my family, on a ward -- think laterally and get help from artists/communicators as we go into this next haul.

You need to do a better explanation job than you've ever done before, and you need assistance from writers, actors, illustrators, comedians, audio designers, animators who are capable of telling stories people can emotionally engage with. Not just people who "create comms".

And you need to pay them, by the way, because the arts is in the toilet.

It's been so frustrating to watch for eight months as your team -- doing their best -- stumble from confusing lists of rules straight to irritating "We Can Do It!" podcast ads without very much useful, legible, relatable information, and very many STORIES (true stories) told.

I know, this is not supposed to be what the public service does, but these are weird times. Seriously. There's amazing storytellers around. Recruit them. They want to help, because, like everyone else, they've been sitting on their hands wishing for a way to do so.

The end. Thank you. #Covid19Vic