Charter

Purpose

VoF was formed in 2023 to promote grassroots democracy and assist in the election of ‘community independents’ in the electorate of Franklin, especially at state and federal elections. We follow in the footsteps of those who helped elect Cathy McGowan (2013, 2016) and Helen Haines (2019, 2022) in the Victorian seat of Indi, and subsequently win seats like Warringah (2019), and Kooyong, Wentworth, North Sydney and Goldstein in 2022. Independent David Pocock won a senate seat for the ACT in 2022. These parliamentarians are often called teals for convenience.

Core principles

The Voices movement is a rejection of the party system, which we see as having failed communities and the nation over a long period. We prioritise five things:

• Increasing participatory democracy – citizens have more say

• Social justice – far less inequality

• Evidence-based policies rather than political ideology

• Ethics - honesty, integrity and inclusiveness

• Respectful behaviour rather than adversarial attacks.

These five principles, if followed, would lead to a significant increase in general wellbeing and are necessary, if not sufficient, for a sustainable society.

Structure

VoF is an informal group with a small core team to coordinate activities and a small panel to assess and assist prospective election candidates. We aim to recruit a large number of volunteers who are keen to progress grassroots democracy.