How we began
A strong democracy needs participation
Voices of Mackellar (VOM) was formed in July 2020 by a group of local women - mothers, sisters, daughters and friends all with strong links to their community.
Their aims were to firstly enable residents of Mackellar to have their voices heard through the Kitchen Table Conversation (KTCs) model of community consultation used by similar Voices organisations. Secondly, they wanted the results of the KTCs to help build a constructive dialogue between them and local political representatives.
The decision by the majority of the founding Committee for VOM to remain non-partisan and to engage with whoever is the representative for Mackellar, meant that some Committee members left to pursue their objective to identify and support an independent Federal election candidate.
See who our current Committee members are here.
What we've done so far
During its first year, Voices of Mackellar volunteers spoke to almost 500 members of the voting public in mostly small group conversations about what they valued in their communities, what issues concerned them most and what they looked for in their political representatives. Collated into the Mackellar Matters Report 2021, these views were shared with our current Federal, State and local representatives.
VOM hosted a number of events, forums and panel discussions following the launch of the Mackellar Matters Report. The events were based on the key findings of the Report, focusing on topics of major concern to the community such as environment, climate change, political integrity and development.
Community consultations continued through late 2021 and early 2022, and included an online community survey. It resulted in the Mackellar Matters Report 2022 released on 30 June (the birthday of the electorate namesake, Dorothea Mackellar.)
A preview of the 2022 Report was shared with every Mackellar candidate prior to the election at the pre-election candidate forum.
What we're doing now
Building constructive dialogue with our new Federal representative, Dr. Sophie Scamps begins with discussing the findings of the Mackellar Matters Report 2022 in more detail.
Longer term, we are working to engage a broad cross-section of the Mackellar community, providing them with information to engage with key issues and the democratic process.
Finally, to help foster the accountability of our MP to the electorate we will facilitate community forums with Dr. Scamps and provide up to date information on her activities.
What our overall aims are
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To enable voices in our community to be heard and counted.
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To encourage the highest standard of community consultation and political representation for the residents of the Mackellar electorate.
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To remain non-partisan and not aligned to any political party, individual election candidate or representative.