Dear All, It has been an eventful 2023! As this year draws to a close, we reflect on how Voices for Monash has helped do democracy differently in our electorate over the last 12 months and contributed to engagement and elevating voices of our community. |
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End of Year event with Denis Ginnivan: |
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Most recently, we held a very successful and engaging end of year event hosting Denis Ginnivan, founder of Voices for Indi as our guest speaker. Denis said he was motivated to join the movement in its initial stages after finding himself yelling at politicians on TV - something many of us can relate to! |
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Denis captivated the audience with stories of the journey of Voices of Indi from the initial meeting in a local library, to a movement of over 500 people that demanded better representation and successfully supported Independent Cathy McGowan to be elected to Federal Parliament. Denis told how that first movement has now inspired other Voices movements all over the country (including us!) and how each are working to elevate citizen democracy and achieve better outcomes for their community. |
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He said that if you want to change politics, you have to be involved. "Politics is a team sport." 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? We at Voices for Monash now encourage all of you - our members, subscribers and engaged members of the community, to use these questions as conversation starters over the festive period, with your family, friends and networks. We would then love you all to report back to us with the common themes, main issues and suggestions that arise in these conversations. Moving into 2024, we ask you all to ask yourselves: Are you willing to get involved to improve democracy and representation of our community? If you would like to get involved in this movement, please let us know. |
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Voice to Parliament Referendum: |
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Voices for Monash held two Community Information Evenings on the Voice to Parliament Referendum during year, educating and empowering members of the Monash community to make an informed decision on how to vote in the referendum. |
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Across our Warragul and Wonthaggi events, we had over 200 engaged members of the community come to hear from a range of speakers with expert knowledge in the area, including Ruben Berg (Gunditjmara Man and co-chair of the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria), Professor Sarah Maddison (Professor of Political Science), Professor Melissa Castran (constitutional lawyer), and Professor Andrew Gunstone (Co-Chair of Reconciliation Victoria). |
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Community Feedback survey: |
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Earlier this year we conducted a comprehensive feedback survey gathering people's thoughts and opinions from all parts of the electorate. |
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We compiled these into the report below illustrating the issues important to the Monash electorate. This was sent to our current Federal Representative to address how he is representing our community on the issues that are most important to us. To date, there has been no response. Another reason to continue the fight for a more engaged, accountable, and responsive community representative! |
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We are hearing from members of the community that costs of living, affordable housing and climate action are pressing issues. As costs of goods, rent and interest rates rise, many community members are feeling the pinch. While many of us breathed a sigh of relief after the last election thinking greater action would be taken on climate, the Labor Government continues to approve new coal and gas projects and commit billions of dollars to subsidising the fossil fuel industry. These are all issues that we will continue to fight for better representation and solutions on, and we invite you all to join us! Keep an eye out in 2024 for more community events, kitchen table conversation meetings, guest speaker events and more! |
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The committee of Voices for Monash wish you all a very happy & relaxing festive season, and a fantastic & prosperous new year! LET'S DO DEMOCRACY DIFFERENTLY! |
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If someone has forwarded you this email, you can sign-up to receive one directly to your inbox here. If you'd like to get more involved, email us at voices4monash@gmail.com and let us know how you’d like to be part of this growing movement for citizen democracy. |
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Voices for Monash acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet and work, including the lands of the Boonwurrung, Bunurong and Gunai Kurnai people, and other Aboriginal lands and nations within this country. We pay our respects to the elders of these lands, past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. |
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