Voices for Indi is the OG 'Voices of' group. It was founded by 12 people in the Wangaratta library in 2012 and it paved the way for the election of Community Independent MP, Cathy McGowan in 2013.
The Voices for or Voices of groups are a series of loosely related political community engagement groups in Australia. Some of the groups have endorsed candidates to run as candidates in federal elections. The independence of some of the candidates endorsed by some groups has been disputed, with some candidates receiving significant funding from the Climate 200 fund backed by energy investor Simon Holmes à Court.
Australia has had a number of independents who have successfully won a seat in parliament, although most of them had the advantage of previously being an MP for a major party[citation needed], or held a high profile position in the community.
Voices groups are locally organised groups channelling growing dissatisfaction with traditional political parties that are not representative of their electorates. The first "Voices" group was founded in the electorate of Indi in 2012 around an identified need for greater democratic engagement at the community level. As of 3 December 2021, there are 38 active Voices groups across 35 electorates in Australia.
#VoicesOf #CommunityPolitics
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