Voices of Casey.

2022 was a significant year in Australian politics. It saw a massive grass roots movement of locally supported independent candidates run in the Australian Federal Election. 


Over 20 ‘voices of’ or ‘teal’ independents ran in electorates across the country. These candidates were overwhelming women, and ran on platforms strongly advocating for increased action to mitigate climate change along with improved political integrity and accountability. They also generally share socially liberal outlooks, on issues such as women's and LGBT rights.



I got involved as a volunteer in the campaign to  find a candidate for the federal electorate of Casey. And then the subsequent campaign of Claire Ferres Miles, former CEO of Sustainability Victoria and Interim CEO of the City of Melbourne, for that seat.

Working with a small, passionate team of volunteers, we needed to move very quickly to establish Voices of Casey as a group and then to find a nominee for the electorate.

Once Claire was nominated, we then needed to work to promote the group, build a brand, expand the group, while developing appropriate messaging and campaign materials. Talk about walking and chewing gum at the same time.

I was centrally involved in this effort and was engaged in the core activities associated with brand, design and communications strategy.

In a very short period of time, we were able to develop a brand, messaging, website and collateral for Voices of Casey. Which we then had to do again for Claire’s campaign.

Both brand strategies took inspiration from the Challenger Brand credos developed by the team at Eatbigfish. While not fully embracing the full challenger mindset (mainly due to time and resource constraints), the brands sought to take thought leadership through meaningful community conversations. They were built on the core campaign truths of climate action, inclusion and diversity, transparency in politics and local emergency resilience.

We also sought to create simple symbols of revelation by doing campaign messaging and collateral differently. Playing with the standard tropes of campaigns, being self-referential about it and elevating the conversation in the process.

Volunteering and being deeply involved in a nationwide political movement was a proud and gratifying moment in time for me, and no doubt thousands of other Australians.

While Claire was not successful in Casey, the movement ultimately removed six sitting Liberal members across the country and saw a shift in the political dialogue across the entire country.

It is inspiring to see the dedication of leaders like Claire who work tirelessly in the background and in the public spotlight to advance causes they believe in deeply.