A community group established early this year is on the hunt for passionate Sunshine Coast community leaders who are prepared to step up as an independent federal member of parliament.
Voices of Fisher is a collective of volunteers from across the southern Sunshine Coast and hinterland region who share concerns about the state of Australian politics.
The group has been inspired by the community-led model that helped secure the election of an independent in the Victorian federal seat of Indi a decade ago, and the subsequent success of community-backed independents since then.
Voices of Fisher is seeking nominations from potential candidates to stand in the next federal election, which is slated to be held before the end of May 2025.
Spokesperson Keryn Jones, who is a retired small business owner and former Sunshine Coast councillor that has lived in the Fisher electorate for almost 40 years, said Voices of Fisher wanted candidates to truly represent the electorate rather than relying on party policy to dictate their decisions in parliament.
“We know that the people of Fisher want better representation and we want to give them that chance,” she said.
“We’ve built a solid volunteer movement committed to supporting and fundraising the right candidate. Our core team is driven and we’re constantly building our volunteer base.
“We embarked on an extensive community listening project to find out what the people of Fisher electorate really want and, as we anticipated, they want to see real change in areas such as integrity, housing affordability, climate and energy policy, inequality and upholding true democracy.
“Our listening exercises in the Fisher electorate proved that the majority don’t feel their views are being heard or represented in federal parliament by the current member.
“It’s clear that the present two-party system is not working for them. We know democracy can be done differently.”
Last month more than 200 people attended a Voices of Fisher event featuring Zali Steggall, the MP for the federal electorate of Warringah, in which she stressed the need for elected representatives to listen to their electorates.
Ms Steggall shared how she stepped into politics after responding to a local newspaper ad calling for a strong, local independent candidate who was a high-achieving sportsperson or businesswoman.
Fisher has been held since 2016 by Andrew Wallace of the LNP, which has held the seat for all but six years since 1949.
Potential candidates can nominate here.
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
