With 35,000 members Australia-wide and 1,500 of those in the Northern Rivers, Climate 200 is bringing the conversation about ‘how to restore integrity to politics’ to Bangalow on Friday, 25 September at the Bangalow A&I Hall.
Speaking to The Echo, Climate 200 Executive Director, Byron Fay, said that while there has been a surge in dissatisfied voters turning to One Nation, ‘there is another alternative, which is the Community Independence Movement (CIM), which we support’.
Based on community action
‘The CIM revolves around community groups electing their own representative that they put up to run,’ he said.
‘The person therefore is beholden only to the people of that community, to their electorate, and not to some centralised party infrastructure.’
Newly elected Independent MP Nicolette Boele from Bradfield will be a guest speaker at the event to talk to her experience of winning her seat along with Co-Convenors Kate Hook and Simon Holmes à Court, and local filmmaker, author and activist, Damon Gameau.
Fay was clear that the CIM is demand-driven and it is local communities that come together and create a movement with a candidate that they are looking to support.
Science, integrity, and equality
If the homegrown group meets the three basic commitments of being ‘committed to a science-based response to the climate crisis, restoring integrity to politics in fighting corruption, and to restoring and advancing gender equality and the respect and safety of women, then we can get behind them,’ said Fay.
It is through research, data-driven analytics, capacity building, as well as donations that they are able to support candidates.
‘One of the things that we love about the community independence movement is that most people who are involved in it have never been involved in politics before. It’s a movement of first-timers, and that’s a real advantage.
‘It adds a lot of vibrancy, energy, and creativity to it. But it’s also a weakness because there are just things you don’t know, and it’s always hard to learn things and compete with others that have been in the game for a long time. So we have a team of professionals who have been involved in political campaigning for a long time, that can advise community campaigns about how to compete with the professionals that are the major parties.
‘People are understandably, completely disenchanted with the major parties and them failing to deliver on the promises they’ve made.
‘People are right to be pissed off. The Labor, Liberal, and National parties have not actually listened and given people a solution to the challenges they’re facing. They have perpetuated policies that have made your life worse. Since Covid our wages, compared to how much things have cost, have not grown enough, and that’s the result of bad government policy,’ said Fay.
Electing the right people is key
‘People have the right to be annoyed, but the answer is not punching down on migrants and turning our back on the biggest existential threat that we face, which is the climate crisis.
‘The answer is electing better people to our parliament who listen to expert advice and are prepared to do what is right, do what is in the interests of the community, rather than what’s in the interests of critical parties and their donors.’
You can join the discussion at the Bangalow A&I Hall on Friday, 25 September from 6.30pm. Pick up a ticket at: 4.
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