Getting vocal about Voices
Julie Faulkner explores the rise of new community movements wanting more say in federal representation.
For years I have been told my vote doesn’t count. This was strikingly true at the last election when Tim Wilson crusaded against the ALP with his anti-franking credit roadshow. I live near the border of Hampton and East Brighton, which puts me in the electorate of Goldstein. Safe Liberal seat. Very safe. My years of voting ALP and Greens felt like a repetitive, fruitless act as my deep criticism of the current government grew.
But something happened at the last election. An independent emerged, the former Olympic skier Zali Steggall. She removed former PM Tony Abbott with an 11% swing. Sure, he was divisive, but how on earth did that happen?
Well, rarely in a vacuum. Independents have played with the balance of power since, and probably before, Pauline Hanson. Julia Gillard scraped into government with independent support and proceeded to pass a record number of bills. Cathy McGowan knocked off Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella in Indi and has since been succeeded by yet another independent, the impressive Helen Haines, yet another independent.
Rob Harris, a Sydney Morning Herald journalist, notes in his blog:
“The federal Liberals have become increasingly sensitive to the threat of moderate independent candidates, especially in progressive and wealthy inner-city seats, since it lost two blue-ribbon seats of former prime ministers.”
Across Australia, there are currently more than 40 Voices movements looking for independent candidates to oust the sitting member. The lack of accountability and transparency in the face of rampant pork barrelling has added to community disenchantment over inaction on climate change, tax breaks for the wealthy and heartless treatment of refugees. Voices of Goldstein’s (VoG) mission statement says:
“We are community members of the Goldstein electorate with socially progressive and pragmatic values, who want our elected representatives to represent our views, goals and values on social issues, business and economic prosperity.”
Julia Zemiro has launched a podcast to run over the next months towards the next election, called A Rational Fear. In the first episode, she interviews Mark Kelly, who was one of the principal organisers behind Zali Steggall’s success.
Like many voters, Mark was cynical about the government’s performance. However, he became active when Tony Abbott left the chamber rather than vote in favour of the Same Sex Marriage bill. Polling showed people of Warringah were strongly in favour of change and resentful of the $22 million spent on postal voting. After sending out half a dozen emails, Mark garnered overwhelming support through selling T-shirts and personally delivering 1600 of them to the purchasers’ homes.
“I talked to them and they could see we weren’t Left-wing nut jobs,” he observed.
A surfer, Mark is affable even when explaining how appalled he is over government rorting and their patent lack of regard for their electorate. He saw growing the movement as something he wanted to promote.
Awareness and fund-raising events include Craig Reucassel’s recent film Big Deal: Is our Democracy for Sale? This documentary exposes Australia’s weak electoral disclosure laws, laws that work to protect the major political parties. The film argues that large, anonymous donations tether our two-party system to those with deep pockets and want to see their interests furthered. An independent member, Reucassel claims, is far less likely to dismiss their electorate’s interests in favour of powerful donors.
A reflexive approach demands that community movements apply the same level of scrutiny to themselves as they do to the major parties, especially in relation to fund raising. Simon Holmes à Court has raised $2 million to support independents at the next election, under the banner Climate 200. A clean energy analyst and investor, Holmes à Court says Climate 200 is a non-profit, nonpartisan group.
“The big idea,’ he argues, ‘is to get the right people in Parliament so we can get Australia unblocked on the important issues, starting with action on climate change, integrity in government and gender equity. In the last decade and a half we have gone backwards, particularly on climate change.”
He feels an independent candidate could counter parliament’s inability to address the big issues, and ‘deliver respect for women in the workplace, a federal integrity commission to weed out corruption, sensible discussions around the Uluru Statement and so forth.’
“A Labor candidate would never win Goldstein, but an independent just might.”
One similarly frustrated voter is Vicky Cogley, a former pharmacist and long-term resident of Goldstein. It was Vicky, five feet tall and full of fervour, who encouraged my own interest in the Voices community. As we deliver VoG flyers, she frowns as she explains the depth of her political disenchantment:
“I feel disillusioned, disgusted and even angry at times with our current government — their lack of accountability and apparent absence of a moral compass, their obvious disdain for the Westminster system of Ministerial responsibility.”
Vicky further cites their persecution of the disadvantaged and disabled, including robo debt, taking vaccines from the disability sector that still lags in the vaccine rollout, their attitude to refugees, the ‘Biloela’ family and detainees in offshore detention.
“Australia’s international reputation has suffered greatly,’ she claims, ‘as a result of poorly thought through statements and actions that lack a mature understanding of the requirements of international diplomacy. Though I live in a democracy, I felt disempowered to enact any change at the Federal level.”
Goldstein’s Member of Parliament since 2016 has been Tim Wilson, former Human Rights Commissioner and Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) member. While politically conservative and always voting with the coalition, Wilson is a supporter of gay rights. I met him while canvassing a funding application and was impressed with the speed with which he can move across detail. However, I have written to him on human rights issues without response, and Vicky likewise is critical of his representation:
“The way he has voted on most issues … prior to the last election, he used a parliamentary superannuation inquiry for his own political purposes to denigrate an ALP policy. He’s disconnected from the electorate and local issues … and appears to be in parliament to forward his own profile, career and powerbase.”
Goldstein’s support for the coalition is traditionally strong. The ALP and Greens have little chance of wresting the seat from Tim Wilson. However, Voices of Goldstein offer voters like Vicky hope for change:
“Here was an opportunity with Voices of Goldstein to actually act, to do something that might help change the government. A Labor candidate would never win Goldstein, but an independent just might.”
Vicky researched before going further:
“The first thing I did was look at the website. I found it to be professional and the strategy listed for choosing a candidate looked really sound. Then I looked at the member profiles and found they looked people who shared my values and frustrations.
So I joined.”
And I joined too. So how does the group nurture support?
They seek the views of participants and use them to select strong candidates. They access member perspectives and beliefs through ‘democracy walks’ and ‘kitchen table conversations’. They invite previously successful candidates to speak to the group and respond to questions. They circulate leaflets and design merchandise, urging people to wear the T-shirts and tote bags in shopping centres and on walks. All these activities build collegiality among fellow voters.
Vicky has nothing but praise for Voices and the way they operate. She says their Facebook page provides a handy discussion forum and the links with other Voices groups allows sharing of proven strategies. The group, she feels, has taken on board all the learning from previously successful campaigns, such as Indi and Warringah.
Petitions. I’ve signed plenty, but do they effect change? Writing or phoning the elected member? I’ve done that too and been met with silence.
So, aside from these groups, what are the options for voters who feel dissatisfied with their elected government and their member in particular? Petitions. I’ve signed plenty, but do they effect change? Writing or phoning the elected member? I’ve done that too and been met with silence.
Mark Kelly commented that many politicos take the view, like Abbott, that voters have elected them to take the hard decisions … or did Abbott mean Party line decisions? Kelly believes the root of community organisations like Voices is active listening — avoiding declarative statements in favour of listening and paraphrasing what is heard. Then acting in responsive ways.
Perhaps this new surge of independent candidates will listen and perform in ways many currently feel is not happening. Vicky Cogley articulates the hopes of Voices of Goldstein, and perhaps all Voices movements:
“I hope that this person will be able to influence other parliamentarians to return to an ethos of integrity and accountability so that the future of our country is not determined by big money buying influence, but by decisions for the good of the nation and its future.”
