About us
The Aim
All over Australia grassroots organisations are forming to have more say in democracy.
Many people in the electorate of North Sydney are disheartened with the current political process and the failure of the party system to provide true representation or deal with major issues that are of concern. They’re tired of writing letters, signing petitions and meeting with elected representatives, only to have their views ignored in favour of party donors, lobbyists, special interest groups, and the party line.
We believe that each one of us can play a constructive role in lifting standards of behaviour, focusing on ideas and policies and strengthening the way we are represented.
Who we are
We are not a political party. We are a non-partisan community group who wants to improve our democracy. We feel that our voices are not being heard and as a result we, as a society, are not reaching our potential.
Drawing on the experience and success of other organisations we aim to establish processes to ensure our values and voices are heard, not just before an election but through ongoing engagement.
Voices of North Sydney wants to help our representative represent us better.
Some of the people behind Voices are:
- Andrea Wilson, architect, artist, Greenwich resident and parent.
- Rod Simpson, architect, urbanist, Greenwich resident and parent
- Felicity Coonan, art director. Riverview resident and parent.
It's a Growing Movement
Recently ‘Voices of’ community groups have sprung up all over Australia. People in the federal electorates of Mackellar, Hume, Warringah and Indi are speaking up and participating in their democracy. In fact, it’s global, with citizens all over the world taking an active role and demanding government accountability and integrity:
FAQ
No, we’re a group of citizens; parents, workers, students who are deeply concerned about issues that are not being addressed by our representative.
The next federal election could be called as early as 7th August 2021 – that only gives us a short time to hear everyone’s views, find a candidate who represents us.
Federal parliament has a good handful of active and effective independents who represent their constituents. But more will break the big party political deadlock that prevents good policy.
Our current Federal member, like all party politicians, votes with the party and in the interests of the party and its donors. For example, our Federal member has voted strongly against a Federal ICAC and strongly against action on Climate Change. These are both issues that have been identified as very important by our electorate.
Voting is important, but voting every 3 years for candidates who have been preselected for us by a tiny minority doesn’t actually allow us to be heard or represented. In fact, we have nil to negligible effect on party policy while we sit in a safe seat. If we have our own independent candidate our voices will be heard and we will be represented.