By Anna Roberts
Voices of the Inner West of Melbourne, a Community Independents’ group, is inviting Expressions of Interest from people interested in standing as a community-endorsed independent candidate for the Footscray electorate at the Victorian state election in November.
Voices of the Inner West seeks to provide real, inclusive representation to advocate for our community and to offer a vision for the future of the Inner West beyond political cycles. We believe democracy works best when communities participate actively in shaping decisions that affect them. Our approach is grounded in listening first and representing the whole community, and in our commitment to integrity, transparency, and long-term thinking for our young people and future generations.
We are seeking someone who is willing to be a genuine representative for the electorate, a representative who will remain independent, and is not associated with major party politics. Community Independents form their policy platforms on issues and priorities that matter most to local communities. Our community-listening process to identify these local priorities is well underway.
Our committee has strong links to the local community and is well connected with the national Community Independents Project (CIP). Our team also has direct experience in other community independents’ campaigns across Victoria. We are able to build on the interest we’ve already received from the community to form a strong group of volunteers who can support the endorsed candidate throughout the campaign.
A formal, multi-stage candidate selection process will be run, with the nominated candidate to be selected and endorsed by the end of June. Please contact us on the details below if you are interested.
While our focus this year is Footscray, Voices of the Inner West also has interest from neighbouring electorates including Williamstown, Laverton, Melbourne and Essendon.
In the future, we aim to support improved representation at all levels of government (local, state and federal) across these other districts. Experience in many successful community-independent campaigns shows that progress sometimes takes more than one election cycle. Consider joining us now to get ‘match fit’ experience in a movement that is shaking up ‘politics as usual’, at a time when authentic and inclusive representation has never been more important.
Community independents like David Pocock in the ACT and Helen Haines in Indi are examples of what non-party aligned, genuine representatives can achieve when they are elected to office. They are not captured by vested interests, and their decisions are guided by what their communities need.
We know there is a wealth of community leadership, creativity and diverse talent throughout the Western suburbs. Reach out if you are interested in starting a conversation with your local community about what issues matter to you, and what good political representation would look like in your area. We would love to collaborate.
Do you know someone who would make a terrific local state member and would be interested in running as a candidate in Footscray? Please contact Committee Member Anna Roberts via email at: candidate.footscray@gmail.com. All details will be held in the strictest confidence.
To get involved in the broader Voices of the Inner West movement including participating in the upcoming campaign, contact us via email at voicesinnerwestmelbourne@gmail.com
For more information about:
Voices of the Inner West of Melbourne – linktr.ee/voicesinnerwestmelb
The Community Independents movement – communityindependentsproject.org
Please consider contributing your voice to our Community Survey, which only takes 5–7 minutes, see: linktr.ee/voicesinnerwestmelb
