Voices for Monash - doing politics differently

Doing politics differently was the theme of the night at the Voices for Monash end of year event held at San Remo Hotel in December. 

The event featured guest speaker Denis Ginnivan, a founding member of Voices for Indi, the community movement that saw Cathy McGowan elected as the first independent MP for Indi in 2013.

Denis explained the people of Indi replaced the role of a party and had direct influence over the policies and issues that McGowan, and her successor Dr Helen Haines MP, represented in Federal Parliament.

Denis went on to talk about how the idea for a Federal Integrity Commission, which was legislated earlier this year, originally came from the people of Indi during one of their many community engagement forums.

It was then advocated and championed by McGowan, Haines, and later picked up by teal independents such as Zali Steggall, Monique Ryan and Zoe Daniel and ultimately demanded of the parliament by the Australian public.

To achieve better representation, Denis challenged the audience to consider the following questions: 

1. What do you love about living where you do?
2. How are things going in the region? What are the challenges?
3. What would you do if you had the opportunity to do politics better?

The event was emceed by Deb Leonard, who ran as a community independent in the Federal Election in 2022.

Deb implored attendees to use these questions as conversation starters with friends, family and colleagues. By having these conversations, Deb says, "more of the community become engaged in politics and local issues. It triggers people to think about their role in improving their representation in parliament and holding their MP to account."

"MPs don't have a job description", Denis pointed out.

"But when you have a community Independent representing you, it's up to the people of the electorate to form the job description, and then hold their MP accountable to it.

"It's a  two way street", Denis said.

"After every parliamentary sitting, Helen Haines reports back to her community what was debated in parliament, how she voted on each issue and what she took into account in coming to that decision."

Denis highlighted the contrast of this to a party MP that merely votes how their party instructs them, and does very little to find out how their community actually feels about the issue.

"Politics is a team sport and everyone needs to be involved," Denis says.

Denis is a co-author of The Indi Way, a book released this year detailing the journey of the Indi people in achieving better representation and a more politically engaged and connected community.

Voices for Monash plans to hold more community engagement sessions across the electorate in the new year, inspiring the community to get involved in the movement to do politics differently.

More information at voicesformonash.org.