---
title: Community Independents Project
type: advocacy
status: active
country: AU
website: https://www.communityindependentsproject.org
logo: /assets/org-logos/community-independents-project.webp
contact:
  checked: 2026-07-24
  email: info@communityindependentsproject.org
  source: https://www.communityindependentsproject.org/contact-us
summary: The national support and capacity-building body for Australia's community
  independent candidate movement — a decentralised network of locally organised, non-partisan
  groups that support community-driven independent candidates for parliament.
concepts:
- representative-democracy
- accountability-sink
location:
  latitude: -37.8136
  longitude: 144.9631
  name: Melbourne, Australia
  precision: city
rss_feed: https://www.communityindependentsproject.org/blog/rss.xml
events:
- date: '2026-09-11'
  title: Communities Rising — Action by the People for the Times (6th annual Community
    Independents Convention)
  url: https://events.humanitix.com/communities-rising-action-by-the-people-for-the-times
  quote: the sixth annual Convention of the Community Independents Movement
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  end_date: '2026-09-12'
  notable: true
  type: conference
  location: Online
activity:
  manual:
    checked: 2026-06-07
    date: 2026-06-07
    note: website loaded. Last convention at 2025
  rss:
    checked: 2026-08-17
    date: 2022-09-04
    note: 'Latest post: The second national Community Independents Convention, August
      2022'
    url: https://www.communityindependentsproject.org/blog/the-second-national-community-independents-convention-august-2022
last_checked: '2026-06-29'
---

The Community Independents Project (CIP) is the coordinating body for Australia's community independent candidate movement — a network of locally organised, non-partisan groups that support community-driven independent candidates at federal, state, and local elections.

The movement originated with **Voices for Indi**, founded in 2012 in the regional Victorian electorate of Indi by Cathy McGowan following a community meeting. McGowan went on to win the seat as an independent in 2013. The model spread gradually and then rapidly: by the 2022 federal election there were roughly 30 groups; by the 2025 federal election there were community groups in over 50 electorates — more than one in three Australian electorates.

## What the movement is

The groups are structurally independent of each other — deliberately so, to avoid the appearance of being a party. Each is locally run and locally funded. The CIP functions as a national network body providing resources, training, and community connection, and hosts an annual national convention.

The movement is non-partisan: it does not endorse candidates based on party or policy platform. Its concern is the *process* by which communities engage with representation — building denser local democratic infrastructure rather than advancing a specific policy agenda.

## Relationship to teal independents

The "teal independents" label was applied by media to a subset of community-backed independents (primarily in inner-metropolitan seats held by the Liberal Party) who ran on climate and integrity platforms in 2022. **Climate 200** is a separate crowdfunding entity that provided financial backing to many of these candidates. The two streams — Voices groups and Climate 200-backed candidates — overlapped but are distinct structures.

## Links

- Website: [communityindependentsproject.org](https://www.communityindependentsproject.org)
- [Voices movement — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voices_movement_(Australia))

## See also

- [Representative Democracy](../concepts/representative-democracy.md)
- [Accountability Sink](../concepts/accountability-sink.md)
- [Australian Democrats](australian-democrats.md)