‘The people are the only legitimate source of all political power’.
Why Cathy McGowan is Eureka Australia’s Democracy Awardee for 2024.
Mary Darcy, Eureka Australia
Almost 40 years ago, I heard a wonderful African-American Woman, Nelle Morton use the phrase: ‘hearing to voice’. This describes a situation where people unable or unused to speaking, begin to speak when they become aware that someone is listening.
This phrase echoes through the work and life of Cathy McGowan, and it came to mind frequently while I was reading both her words and words written about her. Throughout her long career of working with and leading community organisations and working within government organisations as well as teaching in schools and universities, Cathy has been a catalyst for bringing the voices of those on the margins into the mainstream conversations and decision-making processes across Australia. Grass roots Democracy!
Just last week I turned on WIN News and there on the screen was a large gathering of young women, and there was Cathy in the middle of the screen just for an instant , seated at a table, her head tilted slightly listening intently to the young women around the table. I thought ‘There she is, still hearing to voice!’
In 2024 Eureka Australia’s Democracy Award honoured Cathy for her in role initiating the movement, Voices for Indi.
It started when Cathy took a phone call from her nephew and niece who cared deeply about their home community and wanted to change the seat of Indi to a marginal seat. Cathy listened and took them seriously. In spite of not wanting to stand for election herself, she heard the potential in their idea and put it to trusted family and friends. Cathy thought there could be a way to do this and that it had to be driven by the young people.
The process was a masterclass in using the resources she had around her to devise a way of listening to a whole community talking about what they cared about. Cathy had highly skilled community development workers, those who could organise and strategise, those with experience in local government and training in leadership especially in the farmers’ organisation, Women in Agriculture. She had the vision and energy of the young ones.
Cathy also had kitchen tables. Who else but rural women would devise a process based on a one hour meeting with food! Fifty people came forward and were trained to lead the kitchen table meetings. They invited friends, neighbours, associates to share what they cared about. Voices being heard. Political involvement in a safe space. As Cathy says in her book (Cathy Goes to Canberra):
‘My belief is that we were simply making democracy work: that the person who got elected was representing the beliefs of the majority of the people in that seat as they related to the lives, aspirations and environment of those electors. The representative would represent the people and the two would report back to each other.’ Sounds familiar.
Simply making democracy work was obviously not simple and was very hard work. The level of continued engagement and perseverance with so many people involved appears to me to have been quite heroic. Cathy couldn’t take on every suggestion put forward, but she committed to listen, to represent, and to give voice.
Then, the community had to find someone to stand as a candidate. I notice they began with a footballer or someone well known like a local mayor but there were no takers.
In spite of her reluctance to become a parliamentarian, the voices of the young ones called her to be the change she wanted to see. And as she says: ‘I truly didn’t want to let them down. They and the Voices for Indi had invested so much time and energy and taken big risks in getting us to this place’.
To answer the call of a community who place their trust in you to represent what they care about is not for the faint hearted, and Cathy rose to the challenge. There is a cost to democracy, a call to self-transcendence. Cathy stepped into living the process of democracy and gave up what she called her lovely life to do so.
Cathy was elected in 2013 as the Independent member for Indi, making history as the first woman to sit on the cross bench of the House of Representatives. Then she was elected for a second term in 2016 using the same process. Cathy was clearly meeting the challenge of faithfully representing the people of Indi.
Today Cathy continues to support communities who want to come together and discover what they really want from people they trust to represent them.
The process which formed Voices for Indi has provided a powerful lived-out example of participatory democracy which 11 years later still reverberates across the political landscape of Australia.
Cathy has changed forever the process for choosing candidates for election to our parliament. It has been followed by other independents and is documented in her book, The Indi Way: what it takes to really experience the process of ‘hearing to voice’.
It is not easy or passive, it is about bringing about change, it requires hard work, tenacity, the will and the skill to keep going together when the going gets tough. Cathy continues to engage in this, to believe in the power of the community.
There is a little story in The Indi Way which to me sums up the essence of the process of change. It is contained in Kate Kennedy’s speech made on the day, 19 May 2013, when Cathy announced her intention to stand as an independent. I won’t tell you the whole story (you can buy the book.) A young cotton farmer called Stu Higgins was being interviewed by Sarah McDonald about the results of a challenge he was issued to hand over some of his farm to people who thought they could make better decisions than he could. It is a great story as Kate calls it, ‘a kind of microscopic democracy’ was formed. Sarah asked Stu ‘Do you think this project has achieved some long-term change in people’s thinking?’
His response is succinct and powerful:
‘I think so but I’m not sure. I have only ever seen change occur in a very specific set of circumstances- when a group of people who aren’t used to listening are made to listen to people who aren’t used to being heard.’
I think we can agree that the Indi Way has brought about change that is still occurring and we honour Cathy for her on-going role in ensuring that communities are at the heart of political processes.
As the Eureka Reform League Charter states, ‘the people are the only legitimate source of all political power’.
Eureka Democracy and Community Independents- a journey
Cathy McGowan
As it is clear in the Eureka story – the key to effective democracy is the vote.
In Indi we used this principle to build community capacity – the power of the vote was a key motivation for people to get involved – by choosing how to vote you can influence how things work; the power of what their vote can deliver. Also we built the capacity of people to engage in and understand the power of democracy and their vote. The power of accountability. The opportunity of a community being at the centre of democracy. Of a community electing their representative, and holding their representative to account. Our electorate, Indi in NE Victoria, has more than 100,000 voters. We stretch from Wodonga to Corryong, along and east of the Hume Highway – through Wangaratta, Benalla, Euroa, and across to the Great Divide, Falls Creek to Buller, Mansfield and down to Marysville and Kinglake.
The many positives for the people of Indi from this process of democracy included better policy and lots of things: new trains, improved tracks, over 70 mobile phone towers. But our people also benefited from the emotion – the emotion of winning. In Indi we didn’t often win things, let alone big competitions, and the emotion of winning, of our community getting things, the emotional benefit of discovering the capacity to influence outcomes has stayed with those involved. They continue to use their capacity to get things done. Outcomes like Indigo Power and Totally Renewable Yackandandah, which bring the young people home with their partners, their families, their skills, networks and energy. The winning has truly changed the vibe in the electorate. The community likes being at the centre and they want to keep it that way. This belief has not gone away – Helen Haines has begun her campaign for the election next year and volunteers are turning up in their 100s to door knock in the rain. Helen will have over 2,000 volunteers ready to staff the booths at election time: 2,000 out of 100,000. That’s something.
And there’s another link between Eureka and Indi through our town of Beechworth.
In 1853- responding to the cover up of a murder, 3,000 attended a public meeting, in Beechworth on April 2, 1853 to protest and demand justice. Dr. John Owens led the petition and made three visits to Melbourne to submit to Parliament in September 1853 the key elements of the peoples’ petition for an independent commission:
- Broad jurisdiction, to investigate the people it needs to
- Common rules, so that everybody is held to the same standard of behaviour
- Appropriate powers, so that it can actually do its job
- Fair hearings, so that investigations are done openly when in the public interest
- Accountability to the people, so that the Commission answers to public, not political interests.
George Black, a Chartist, also actively involved with the local organising moved to Ballarat and took the ideas with him.
For more read the Jacqui Durant story – https://jacquidurrant.com/tag/dr-john-owens/
In 2023, Dr Helen Haines, current MP for Indi (community independent) used the Beechworth Principles as the philosophical base for her speech petitioning the Federal Government to introduce an Integrity Commission. https://www.helenhaines.org/media/government-can-do-right-with-beechworth-principles/ There’s a direct link between the diggers of Beechworth, the Eureka heroes, and what is happening now across Australia where there are over 50 electorates working on the ground, linked by the DNA of the Indi model, the Indi Way of putting the community at the centre of political action.
It is such an honour- thank you, to be selected as the Eureka Australia Democracy Awardee. I am really ‘chuffed’ to be part of the 170th celebrations – a true career highlight.
New Edition of Cathy Goes to Canberra
Cathy has released a new revised and updated 2nd edition of Cathy Goes to Canberra, which tells a story of a leadership journey, the story of a community finding its voice, the theory and model of how to with practical tips and processes.
Cathy’s book is a celebration of rural and regional Australia and its vital, motivated and clever people.
Follow the link https://publishing.monash.edu/product/cathy-goes-to-canberra-updated/ for a 20% discount – In the coupon ‘box’ input CIM20 when checking the website.
Our Beautiful Democracy
By Barry Cassidy
(Editor’s note. This wonderful speech covering why Australia has a beautiful democracy, one we owe largely to the Eureka aftermath, was provided by Barrie Cassidy and presented on his behalf by his colleague and Eureka Australia committee member, journalist Jim Brown, at the Eureka Australia Annual Democracy Award Dinner on November 30, 2024. We are very thankful to Jim for stepping in at short notice.)
‘Good evening everyone and welcome. My name is Jim Brown. We were all looking forward to our keynote speaker Barrie Cassidy, but this morning he confirmed he’s bedridden with a virus. So I am standing in for Barrie tonight. We are both journalists and have been so for most of our lives. Barrie’s career started early. At the age of 13 he became an unpaid sportswriter for the Federal Standard-in Chewton, a role he held for 5 years while he was still at High School.
His first paid role was as a cadet journalist in Albury, followed by Court reporter at the Herald Sun, then Victorian press gallery reporter for the ABC. This led Barrie to Canberra as the ABC’s federal political correspondent for radio and television where he quickly earned universal professional respect.
Seven years later, in 1986, to his surprise, Prime Minister Bob Hawke invited Barrie Cassidy to become his personal press secretary. Returning to the ABC he worked all round the world and won too many awards to cover here tonight.
His current position is something of keen interest to us all here – he is Chair of the Board of Old Parliament House, the Museum of Australian Democracy. So we are unlucky not to have Barrie with us in person tonight. He shares our deep love of our democracy and how we all should cherish and find ways to defend it.’
Here’s Barrie’s presentation:
Democracy Standard Bearer to the World?
‘Good evening.
Tonight, because of the most recent world events, I want to take a look at the United States, the biggest economy in the world, the one country that believes in its heart that it is the democracy standard bearer to the world, the country and its people who profess a love for democracy.
This all of course came to an astonishing flash point on a January 6, 2021 when a mob in support of Donald Trump convinced in their own minds that the election had been stolen from them, stormed the congress.
It was an insurrection. People were killed. Democracy denied. Who saw that coming? It happened despite the fact that nowhere has any governing authority, any campaign audit, any judiciary found any evidence of malpractice that might have impacted on the result. When millions of rusted-on Trump supporters believe in him, no matter what the courts find, then you get a sense of how that deep division will continue.
Nick Bryant, who is a former BBC foreign correspondent, argues in his book that Trump is merely the symptom of a country with massive unresolved issues. The unending internal conflict – over issues like race, immigration, wealth distribution, gun control – cities versus the country – abortion rights – they just go on and on. They are deep-seated and historical.
How democratic is the United States anyway? Look at the constitution and how power was distributed at elections. The house is democratic by most standards. But nothing happens without the Senate.
Each state has two senators. No matter the size. So California with a population of close to 40 million has two senators. Wyoming with half a million people has two senators. The principle of One Vote One Value says that if Wyoming has two senators, then California should have 80. 70% of Americans want urgent and drastic reforms to gun laws, but they won’t get them, because far more than half the senators live away from the big population centres.
President Obama in 2016 said: We – The United States – is the only democracy in the world that deliberately discourages people from voting. They vote on a working Tuesday. The lines are notoriously long.
The so-called United States doesn’t have a central and single electoral authority. The states have their own governing bodies setting the rules and the rules can vary. And they don’t have compulsory voting. Now, even here, there’s a strong debate around this issue.
So, could what happen with the USA elections happen here? I don’t think so, but as I will tell you now there are warning signs. Australia has important guiderails born in the aftermath of the Eureka Stockade struggle.
The major one is the Australian Electoral Commission. We have a single authority that oversees all elections with consistent rules and regulations, and it is well trusted by the public.
But the AEC has come under attack. They were wrongly accused of changing the voting rules for the latest referendum on indigenous recognition. They did not! They were falsely accused of changing the rules, of excluding crosses on the ballot paper, to favour the yes vote. It was a deeply disturbing development, threatening to undermine an institution, the judiciary, for political advantage. It is all too common in the United States and sadly, we are hearing it here.
We at old Parliament House had a voting centre set up. Around 20,000 used it. They wanted to vote within an historic building on an historic day. But for the first time in my memory anyway I saw people turning up with biros, trying to hand them out, warning voters that if they used the provided pencils their vote could be erased and altered. A direct result of a credible organisation – a credible authority – undermined for political purposes.
Australia’s second guardrail is compulsory voting. Voting should be seen as a civic duty.
In Australia we get a participation rate in the high 90s. In the US they struggle to get far above half the population voting. It means that in the US you can have just a little more than 25% of the population putting an individual in the White House.
And a third guardrail is the political structure itself. The fact that basic government, ministries, emerge from the elected pool.
A recent government sponsored survey showed that 95% of Australians agree democracy is important, but only 59% agree democracy in Australia is working as it should. There is disillusionment, no doubt about it, and no wonder.
The major parties are reluctant to deal with publicly important issues like election campaigns funding, truth in advertising, the pervasive influence of lobbyists, interest groups and gambling, over the political processes. There is urgent need for reforms around these issues.
In my view we are headed for a period, perhaps a longish period, of minority governments. There’s nothing new about this. The DLP ruined Labor for almost two decades. Now the Greens challenge the Government, and lately the Teals, the independents, taking their most prized seats from them.
When I first went to Canberra in 1980 more than 90% voted for one of the major parties. Now that number is at 68%. The people are shouting a message from the rooftops.
The public service has also let us down in recent times, too willing to do the bidding of governments. The awful Robodebt affair was a classic case.
The media has a role, but there are serious concerns from serious journalists. Commercial media has had to cut budgets and downsize. They look for conflict to embrace a niche market that’s their business model. They try to do more with fewer journalists. As a result, you get fewer critical eyes, fewer people gathering the information and yet more using that limited information to opine and comment.
In my opinion, too often social media is a place where nuance, content, and depth go to die. And of course, it is so vulnerable to the worst disinformation and misinformation campaigns.
But in our beautiful democracy, all these challenges can be overcome. But only if we all keep an eye on it.
As Chair of the Australian Museum of Democracy there something called The Strengthening of Democracy Taskforce. You can count on this Taskforce to take up the challenge of strengthening our democracy. We are very conscious of our role and our capabilities. Now it has an even wider task, to sustain democracy. Sustaining democracy is what we do. The core of what we do.
The most important element is education. Educating future generations. We get 350,000 visitors a year, 1,400 guided tours. But most importantly 80,000 school students visit the building every year. We want to do even better than that. And of course, we aim to reach so many more digitally, right around the country.
We have to sustain democracy. We have to find the money and the resources to do it.
We can’t have the next generation ignorant to what makes up the basic pillars of democracy. We don’t want them disinterested. They need to be exposed, and they need to be inspired. We got the basics right, which began after the Eureka Stockade battle, but we must find ways to be more open to reform and change.
An academic from Stanford University in the US, Professor Larry Diamond, recently addressed our Strengthening of Democracy Task Force, and this is what he said, and this is important
‘Australia has been to the GP, and the doctor said look you’re actually in good, even robust health. But. There are some nasty viruses going around – misinformation, disinformation, polarisation, particularly in the media. There’s a growing distrust of politicians and the political processes. And there’s a powerful new transmission: social media and digital platforms, and that is going to test our immunity. We will need new remedies and new vaccines.’
It was people power at Eureka which created Australia’s democracy, and it will take Australian people power to nourish and defend it. Several democracies around the world have failed, unable to withstand the political storms in this troubled world.
It is up to all of us to make sure it never happens here.’
Tinteán 