Community Independents Project
The Community Independents Project (CIP) is the coordinating body for Australia's community independent candidate movement — a network of locally organised, non-partisan groups that support community-driven independent candidates at federal, state, and local elections.
The movement originated with Voices for Indi, founded in 2012 in the regional Victorian electorate of Indi by Cathy McGowan following a community meeting. McGowan went on to win the seat as an independent in 2013. The model spread gradually and then rapidly: by the 2022 federal election there were roughly 30 groups; by the 2025 federal election there were community groups in over 50 electorates — more than one in three Australian electorates.
What the movement is
The groups are structurally independent of each other — deliberately so, to avoid the appearance of being a party. Each is locally run and locally funded. The CIP functions as a national network body providing resources, training, and community connection, and hosts an annual national convention.
The movement is non-partisan: it does not endorse candidates based on party or policy platform. Its concern is the process by which communities engage with representation — building denser local democratic infrastructure rather than advancing a specific policy agenda.
Relationship to teal independents
The "teal independents" label was applied by media to a subset of community-backed independents (primarily in inner-metropolitan seats held by the Liberal Party) who ran on climate and integrity platforms in 2022. Climate 200 is a separate crowdfunding entity that provided financial backing to many of these candidates. The two streams — Voices groups and Climate 200-backed candidates — overlapped but are distinct structures.
Links
See also
History
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2022-08-01
Hosted the second national Community Independents Convention ("Empowered Communities: Next Steps")Flagship national convention
Sourcing: High
The “Empowered Communities: Next Steps” Convention marks 10 years since Cathy McGowan called together of group of people to talk about what could be done about the parlous state of democracy in the electorate of Indi.
Month-only date (title/URL say "August 2022"; the recap post itself is dated 4 September 2022). Marked the 10th anniversary of Cathy McGowan's original Indi meeting that started the movement.
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