Millie attended Empowered Communities: Next Steps, the Community Independents Convention and she’s still buzzing… Celebratory, humble, collaborative and fun, Millie reflects on some of the key themes about how the community Independents are doing democracy differently.

‘Together we can.’ Even better: together we already are, according to campaigner and climate communicator Claire O’Rourke, who’s just released a new book about ‘everyday Australians doing amazing things to give our planet a future.’ Here are three things Lily’s learnt from Claire…

What if we can take this opportunity of a newly elected government... in all its ongoing peril and possibility, to galvanise around a new ‘why’, that speaks to universal needs and human motivations? What if we can find a way to articulate that the individual issues we care about are really just pieces of the same solution?

Here we are, on the other side of Australia’s most transformative election in a generation. It’s a new dawn for climate action, for integrity, for respecting women, listening to community and remaking democracy. Lily Spencer reflects on what has happened and how we now start to lead from the front.

Words are powerful, particularly at election time. Three word slogans shape debate and lies become understood as truths if they are repeated often enough. To create an agenda for the public good we need to recognise the power of words and use them to our advantage…

What if we made it an actual, resourced-priority to listen deeply to local communities and those we disagree with from a distance, in order to build common ground?  What if we found new ways to compromise? In other words, what does it mean to work together for the common good of our country?

Research repeatedly finds most Australians are not nearly as angry or divided as the mainstream political narrative might have us believe, especially at election time. We all have circles of influence, people we talk to, work we do.  In the final days of this campaign, let’s use our voices to remind each other about who we really are, what really matters, and why…

We know that within Australia reMADE’s networks are people of passion and influence, people who believe that a vision matters at election time, and every other day of the year. As we get to the pointy end of this election, let’s use our voices to elevate the debate…