"Sit Down at My Table"
Connecting Candidates with Grassroots.
A Federal election strategy for local ANTaRs

“If you aren¹t in touch with the people who are representing you, you aren¹t
being represented.” Brisbane-based Musician, Steve Towson

  
   
The idea  
To connect federal election candidates with grassroots community people in an informal, small group setting.  

 

  
What we want you to do  
Host a meal in your home for up to 12 people.  
   
Who do you invite  
An even split of Indigenous and non-Indigenous guests, including a local federal election candidate. If you are unsure how to find participants, print out the invite below and contact your local or state ANTaR or Reconciliation Group, or drop into any local indigenous organisation and have a yarn to their staff about attending. We will be looking for support for this idea from Indigenous media outlets right from the start and as the idea develops we hope to interest high profile candidates and mainstream media in the near future.  


 
AIMS  

  • To connect federal election candidates with grassroots ANTaR members and local community people.
  • To build relationships which will hopefully last beyond the election or otherwise of the candidate concerned.
  • To assist in personalising the political process for all concerned.
  • To build a database of responses to indigenous issues by individual candidates across the country.
  • To have fun and get to know each other in a stress-free and informal setting.
  
   
Invitation  

Dear xx

We would like to invite you to participate in a grassroots election campaign strategy which has been developed by ANTaR’s National Congress with the support of all states. The idea was inspired by a project developed in Victoria by Megan Evans.

We are asking ANTaR members and supporters to invite up to 12 people to dinner, lunch, brunch or even breakfast in the comfortable and welcoming surrounds of their own homes. An even number of indigenous and non-indigenous participants will be aimed for, and the list will include a local candidate for the forthcoming federal election.

The first part of the event will be strictly informal with participants asked to sit down together for a meal, have a yarn and get to know each other. Your host will provide all beverages and food, and relationships should start to build between individuals around your table.

After the meal, participants will be asked to sit together as one group to discuss one or more of the very broad issues suggested below. At least one of these issues should be discussed to allow for something of a database to be established. A photograph of the group will be taken if possible and the host or a volunteer will write up a report of the event and responses to the issues at hand. The reports and photographs are for publication on the ANTaR National web page and in other media.

Issues to be discussed as a group should include one of the following: health, treaty, stolen wages, native title, land, self-determination or culture and identity.

  
   
Further information  

Contact your state or territory ANTaR. Details here>>

Or call the National Office on 02 95556138 or email to antar@antar.org.au

  
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR)  • www.antar.org.au
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