By Callum Ludwig
Voices for Casey’s full Listening Campaign Report was released on Tuesday 24 September.
The Star Mail spoke to three Casey residents who have either recently joined the Voices for Casey volunteer base or have observed its recent activity for their thoughts on the independent movement in the electorate.
Badger Creek resident David Singleton has been a Voices for Casey volunteer for about six months and said he first became aware of the movement at the last federal election in 2022.
“I volunteered to hand out on election day and then when this cycle came around, I wasn’t involved with the Voices for Casey committee from the start, but somehow I heard it was going again and I got in contact and said I’d like to be part of it,” he said.
“I’ve been quite impressed by the idea of campaigning not along political lines but along issues, getting away from votes for this person, a vote for that person.”
When asked what’s important to them, respondents named the cost of living (36.1 per cent) as the most important thing followed by climate change (20.7 per cent), integrity in politics (10.4 per cent) and housing (10 per cent) while national security (1.1 per cent) and immigration (1.4 per cent) featured towards the tail-end of the list.
Mr Singleton said he really liked the idea of the survey and going out to listen and not have prejudice between what the group and what the community thinks.
“I wasn’t surprised about some of the issues that were really important to people, I think that’s a bit more known in the public, like the cost of housing and the cost of living which is on everyone’s lips,” he said.
“It was more how unimportant some things like national security and immigration didn’t seem to rate very highly on the survey when I thought that would be the case.”
The next three questions in the report asked respondents what expenses are mainly affecting their cost of living, what the top three social issues they feel need to be addressed and what the top three concerns are that they hold in terms of integrity in politics.
Mooroolbark resident Gage Rossiter has been a Vouices for Casey volunteer for less than three months and said he first saw there was a Voices event in Yarra Glen on Facebook.
“I attended the event in Yarra Glen to see how it works and then I offered to organize one in Mooroolbark, which we held at Brycee’s Tavern,” he said.
“I had previously formed the conclusion that over the last two and a half to three decades, the major party system had broken down in Australia, it just wasn’t working, because members of Parliament of these parties were obliged to follow the party line.”
Groceries (77.8 per cent of all respondents) and electricity/gas (76.2 per cent) were the key expenses of concern while 182 of all respondents selected every expense as impacting their cost of living (including insurance, healthcare, fuel/car maintenance, mortgage, education expenses, rent, childcare and other.)
Mental health came out on top as the most important social issue (52.0 per cent), followed by domestic violence (49.8 per cent), growing wealth inequality (48.5 per cent) and health (47.2 per cent).
Accountability and transparency (29 per cent), pork barrelling (23 per cent) and truth in political advertising (21 per cent) were the top three integrity issues raised by respondents.
Mr Rossiter said he raised at the Yarra Glen event that there’s a huge problem in Australia with the connection between alcohol abuse and domestic violence and felt listened to.
“I noticed in the final report that that was mentioned and I’m certainly not anti-alcohol. I spent most of my life in the alcohol industry,” he said.
“I did complete the community survey, and I’ve read the document from back to front, and I’ve realised that what worries people in Mooroolbark is quite different to what worries people in the Hills or the Valley or the Upper Yarra.”
The final four questions in the survey asked what areas of publicly funded supports and services need attention, what are their top three concerns in regards to climate and the environment, what their top three concerns are for the economy and what national security issue are they most worried about.
Sherbrooke resident Karen Pomeranz isn’t involved in the Voices for Casey movement but has been observing the movement for about the last year and said she went recently to one of the forums that was held in Mt Evelyn that Kooyong MP Monique Ryan attended.
“My current work as a volunteer is in the health sphere, and I work on a number of committees locally within the eastern region, I’ve become fairly aware of the major health issues that people are interested in and concerned about,” she said.
“Mental health is clearly a big priority in this area, as is the provision of services, specialist services, which include dental services and seem to be a little bit hard to get a hold of, and my background is in early childhood education so I definitely have interest in that,”
“Another key one would be the environmental issues, I’ve lived up here now for close to 50 years, so very committed to the area, seen lots of changes happening in terms of tourist development and the growth of traffic, which is concerning for the fragile environment”
Roads and infrastructure maintenance (30.3 per cent) and health services (20.1 per cent) were identified as the most in need of public funding.
Decisive action on climate change (61.6 per cent), more support for renewable (60.8 per cent)
Energy and improving local emergency preparedness (60.4 per cent) were by far and away the key environmental concerns.
Corporate tax reforms to prevent tax avoidance by large corporations (71.2 per cent), ‘future’ industry support such as in scientific research and renewable energy (42.1 per cent), job insecurity and growing casualisation (41.8 per cent) and better support for small/medium
businesses (39.7 per cent) were the economic issues most commonly raised.
Ms Pomeranz said she’s toying with the idea of supporting independents, a little more than she had in the past as a ‘rusted-on Labor voter’.
“I’m a little bit torn here, but I’m certainly interested in the notion of holding politicians accountable and I gather that’s pretty much the essence of Voices for Casey,” she said.
“I think it’s a good thing to get community input, though I don’t think the survey was terrific and another friend who completed it also felt that it was wanting a little bit, but for what its intention was to get an overall feel for priorities, I think it’s an important thing to do.”
The full report can be found at voices4casey.com.au/, which also includes responses to an open-ended final question.
