Zoom Town Hall meetings
ZOOM TOWN HALL #2
The second Zoom Town Hall meeting was held in June 2020.
We learnt from other groups and organisations about alternative approaches that have been successful.
Guest speakers were:
Alana Johnson from Voices for Indi
Iain Walker of newDemocracy
Jess Miller from City of Sydney
Main points:
· Defining the values and principles of good government is the most important thing the group can do to guide its activities, the selection of a candidate and ongoing communication between the community and the representative.
· An independent is most effective if they concentrate on a few issues that are of concern to the constituents rather than attempting a broad policy platform
· It is possible and effective to have a continuing dialogue between community organisation and the representative between elections
· Deliberative processes that involve the public have worked at a range of scales to come up with policies and solutions for a wide range of difficult issues.
Watch here: https://vimeo.com/434582765?fbclid=IwAR07ciHDbb7b8M3r13RFtnBRMp5PXXOcn9n77suuO_6wYIoxWLhyue6m5hM
ZOOM TOWN HALL #1
In May 2020 we held our first public town hall meeting via Zoom.
With our guest speaker Jane Caro, we asked:
Are we being represented? How democratic are we and is there a gap between the issues of concern and how our federal representative has voted?
Main points:
· There is a significant gap between the issues that interest and concern the community and the way our representative has voted
· This gap is evident in the swing away from government in the 2019 election
· North Sydney has had an independent that served the community well in the past
Watch here: https://vimeo.com/425707766