About Us
Voices of Cook is a community group in the federal electorate of Cook, New South Wales. The electorate of Cook comprises parts of coastal southern Sydney and lies just north of the Royal National Park. Voices of Cook is one of many grassroots community groups across Australia made up of individuals hoping to improve our parliamentary representation.
The group is disillusioned and disappointed with how we are represented in federal parliament. We want to change our ‘safe seat’ status. The major parties have either taken us for granted or ignored us.
We love living in Cook and our goal is to strengthen democracy across our community. To achieve this Voices of Cook will consult with the people of Cook and advocate for them without allegiance to any political party or other organisation.
Our Values
Respect - We respect the rights and privacy of our participants and volunteers. We actively listen to all voices and value each person’s perspective and input.
Inclusion - We encourage all our community members to fully participate in democracy and ensure our voices are heard by our political representatives. We value and listen to the unique perspectives of everyone, regardless of their backgrounds, identities or differences.
Integrity - We uphold honesty and transparency within our group and in how we interact with our community. We ensure that our behaviour is ethical and accountable.
Reliability - We advocate for the use of reason and science in public policy. We use reputable sources of information as the basis for action and all our communications with our community.
Our Norms
In all of our events, we agree to the following ‘rules’ or norms to ensure that everyone is respected and heard:
We accept that everyone is entitled to have a say
We will make the effort to listen to one another
We respect people’s right to their opinions, even if we disagree - whilst we might offer alternative views, we are here to hear and gather everyone’s views, not to debate
We will try at all times to be constructive
We will try to stay on track and be mindful of time
Our Vision
To be an engaged community that will work together to seek and endorse an independent local candidate who will serve the people not the party. Someone who will listen and respond to community voices.
Our Mission
To strengthen community engagement in the democratic process, by providing a venue that encourages the discussion of ideas, concerns and needs in an open and respectful setting. From this listening process it is hoped a high profile, local candidate will emerge to represent us in the next federal election.
Our Focus
To use a 'Kitchen Table Conversations' process and a survey to gather and present community ideas and concerns in a Listening Report. These will be supported by events such as forums and webinars, as well as informal gatherings such as coffee chats, politics in the pub and 'democracy walks'.
Our Team
Our Core Group, or organising committee consists of 7 people - Vicki, Martin, Aldo, Kieran, Greg, Emma and Ty. We have a growing list of amazing volunteers and supporters helping to spread the word and run activities. We currently have over 190 subscribers and more than 430 followers on our Instagram account. Join us here
