Community Backed Independent

A community backed independent gets its strength from - you guessed it - the community. 

It is very different to being backed by a political party. There are no policies, no written statements, no funding, no staff, no one writing your speeches or telling you how to vote. But there is people power and that is what the Nicole Arrowsmith Community Independent for Moncrieff Campaign is built on. It is based on the belief that politics can be done differently when powered by the community at a grassroots level, outside of the failing two-party system. 

Voices of Moncrieff

Our independents movement started here with Voices of Moncrieff - a group of local Gold Coast residents who wanted to see genuine representation for our part of the Gold Coast in Parliament. The group mobilised because the electorate of Moncrieff is missing out and being taken for granted - being a so-called “safe seat” is a bad deal for us. As an example, during the Morrison government’s $2.8 billion grants system, Moncrieff only received $1.63 million. If this had been evenly distributed across the 151 seats in Parliament, Moncrieff would have received $18 million.

Inspired by the Community Independents Movement, Voices of Moncrieff set out to host Kitchen Table Conversations, listening to members of Moncrieff about their concerns and how they felt about the political landscape. Over the course of 9 months from December 2023 to August 2024, the group undertook a community listening project that involved 423 participants in Kitchen Table Conversations, Listening Posts and an Online Survey. The responses formed the data for a Community Listening Report and highlighted the top 5 issues that people were concerned about. The report is available to download from the Voices of Moncrieff website. 

Where is Moncrieff?

Our electorate is located in central Gold Coast, between the electorates of Fadden in the north, Wright and Forde to the west and McPherson to the south. Moncrieff covers the area from Miami to Main Beach and from Surfers Paradise out to Highland Park. According to the 2021 Census, our electorate's population is 182,000 with 124,000 adults enrolled to vote.

click on the map above to enlarge