The Story Behind Kooyong

In 2022, I had the privilege of contributing towards one of the biggest upsets in Australian political history—unseating Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

Before joining the Climate 200 team, I co-founded Voices of Kooyong and went on to be the Social Media Manager for Dr Monique Ryan’s 2022 campaign to win Kooyong. Today, I want to tell you about the campaign before the campaign.

Campaigns with 2,000 volunteers and extraordinary candidates like Monique Ryan don’t magically appear six months before an election.

‍Behind every successful independent campaign is the campaign before the campaign.

Before Monique Ryan’s campaign, there was Voices of Kooyong. In early 2021, a group of 30 locals frustrated with our federal representation met at a public library. We founded Voices of Kooyong and began 12 months of community listening through kitchen table conversations, surveys, pub nights, democracy walks, and webinars.

Our community listening was run by volunteers, but to engage our community, we needed a website, flyers, t-shirts, campaign technology and more. Without those resources, we would never have been able to build a movement powerful enough to take on the Federal Treasurer.

Right now, grassroots groups across the country are looking to do the same thing and need the same resources to do their work. The more support we can give them now, the better their chances of celebrating an independent victory on election night.

1,500+ people have already chipped in to help accelerate their community outreach. Can you make a donation towards funding these vital campaign resources?

The culmination of our listening efforts in Kooyong was the production of Kooyong Speaks: A summary of community consultations.

Our report highlighted our community's frustration with the government’s lack of action on climate change, its affinity for corruption, and our unhappiness with our current MP.

Our community consultations proved that an independent campaign was viable. We needed to let the community know.

The research from our grassroots engagement was used to inform our candidate search. ‍You might recall seeing this ad from Kooyong Independent in The Age and The Australian Financial Review in late October 2021.

Launching an ad in The Age and The AFR for ‘The Next Member for Kooyong’ was as audacious as it was essential.

The ad showed potential candidates and future supporters that we were serious, organised and ready to challenge the Liberal Party in the bluest of blue-ribbon seats.

This is the exciting step that every community group must eventually take. After all the kitchen table conversations, pub nights and surveys, the time will come to commence a candidate search.

Whilst the candidate search was underway, Voices of Kooyong hosted Kerry O’Brien and Cathy McGowan in November 2021 at Kew High School for our town hall event: Australia’s eroding democracy: How do we turn it around?

The event was a huge success, with a sellout crowd of 300 and over 1,200 watching via livestream. There was an enormous sense of anticipation among the audience, with attendees hopeful of receiving news on Kooyong’s Independent candidate. They weren’t disappointed.

‍At the close of the event, Voices of Kooyong member Ann Capling took the stage to announce that Kooyong’s Independent candidate had been selected by simply stating: “We can’t wait for you to meet her.”

With that, the ‘campaign before the campaign’ was over, and it was time for Monique Ryan’s campaign to kick off.

Without community, there is no community candidate.

The importance of the ‘campaign before the campaign’ cannot be overstated. Voices of Kooyong's groundwork highlighted the community's priorities for climate action, integrity in politics, and respect for women – it unearthed a desire to do politics differently.

By the time we hosted the Kerry O’Brien and Cathy McGowan event, Voices of Kooyong had amassed over 1,000 local members, which enabled Monique Ryan to launch her campaign with 1,000 volunteers raring to go.

Members of Voices of Kooyong’s steering group went on to join Monique Ryan’s campaign team, including myself as Social Media Manager and Ann Capling as Campaign Manager and many Voices of Kooyong volunteers took on vital volunteer leadership roles.

This is why a local community group is a precursor to success at the ballot box. Without volunteers, campaign technology, local research, and a demonstrated desire for change, a new candidate doesn’t have the all-important head start required to take on the massive campaign machine of a major party incumbent.

That’s why Climate 200’s Community Accelerator Fund is so important. Thanks to the 1500+ people who’ve already chipped in, we’ve been able to fund groups in McPherson, Moncrieff, Fisher, Fairfax, in Queensland, Forest, Moore in WA, Cowper, Bradfield in NSW, and Casey, Monash, and Wannon in Victoria.

Your donation will ensure we can support even more local groups – and put them on the same path as Voices of Kooyong.

Thank you for reading Kooyong's story. Every community wants to find their Dr Monique Ryan, but they need your help. Chip in to ensure community groups can fund an extensive search for their rockstar candidate, and keep up to date with their inspiring journeys by following us on social media.

Thank you for all your support,