After 200 days in Office, Dr Sophie’s Mackellar report card is in

At Dee Why RSL on 21 May 2022, Dr Sophie Scamps was equal parts exhausted and exuberated. Having just completed her federal campaign for the seat of Mackellar, there was nothing left to do but wait for votes to be counted. Before long, numbers were in and they were resounding, with Sophie the first of all independent candidates to have her victory called by the press, also becoming the first independent elected to the seat in 73 years.

Time flies, and with her first 200 days in Office completed, it was time to return to Dee Why RSL on 28 February, this time for a conversation with Collaroy royalty, Wendy Harmer, and a QnA hosted by Voices of Mackellar, outlining Sophie’s achievements so far, and if her activities in Office were meeting the expectations of the 20 most important issues Mackellar residents had cited in the lead up to the 2022 election.

For those unfamiliar, the “Voices of” movement has become a significant player in Australian politics, focused on the premise that active listening to community concerns is fundamental, then building information from there that can guide policy framework for ideal community outcomes, and encourage candidates to hold values that best align with what the community is most concerned about. Some Voices groups support an independent candidate, others, like Voices of Mackellar, remain non partisan acting as a vehicle for community participation in democracy.

In that vein, Voices of Mackellar was established in 2020 as a non partisan organisation to encourage the highest standard of community consultation and political representation for Mackellar residents, spending its first 2 years engaged in Kitchen Table Conversations with community members, and culminating in their collated findings published in the Mackellar Matters 2022 Report. Please visit www.voicesofmackellar.org.au to read the Top 20 list and the report in full, but the top 5 items are: Climate Change, Accountability/Transparency, Environment, Inequality, and Corruption/Integrity/Ethics. It’s no coincidence that these issues are front and centre of Sophie’s agenda.

Highlights of the first 200 days include: Pushing the Government to increase the ambition of Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target, which is now enshrined in law alongside the 2050 net zero target through the passing of the Climate Change Bill; Working closely with the Attorney-General to establish a National Anti-Corruption Commission with teeth; Supporting the motion that would see a ‘Climate Trigger’ inserted into our national environmental law – the EPBC Act; Supporting the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Cheaper Child Care) Bill 2022, to make childcare more accessible and more affordable for all Australian families; Developing a Private Members Bill to establish an independent and merit-based process to select candidates for government boards, committees and departmental appointments, effectively “Ending Jobs for Mates”.

There are many more achievements listed on the report card, and a promise from Voices of Mackellar to continue the series regularly to allow the community to ask their questions of their representative. It’s safe to say the framework of holding politicians to account with a regular community report card is something sure to garner the attention of electorates all over the nation whose voters may not be overly satisfied with the performance of their sitting member.