Wow – It’s hard to believe that less than two weeks ago we launched our campaign for Dr Monique Ryan to become Kooyong’s community Independent representative in Canberra. The massive outpouring of community support to help change our climate in Kooyong has been amazing!
A huge thank you to all of those who attended our launch at the Hawthorn Arts Centre. A Covid-safe crowd of 500 turned out to celebrate the start of a new way of doing politics in Kooyong. Many continued on to the ‘Rocket Park’ to enjoy a picnic and mingle with like-minded people who believe that change is possible.
A special thanks to all the volunteers who organised such a great event. This campaign will be won through the hard work of our volunteers and their dedication, enthusiasm and professionalism was evident at the launch.
Monique has been overwhelmed by your offers of support over these past two weeks. More than 700 people have already signed up to volunteer. Our first order of 200 corflutes has been distributed and we are enjoying seeing them popping up around the electorate, along with our campaign T-shirts. More corflutes are on the way!
We have also received hundreds of emails and messages of support. We are still trying to catch up with the correspondence and we promise that we will reply to you all in the days ahead.
In addition to our volunteers, fundraising will be crucial to our success. Monique’s campaign has received $130,000 from more than 500 individual community donors. This will help to give our campaign momentum through the summer. Every cent that you donate goes directly to the campaign and supports the cost of advertising, software, professional staff, and soon – our campaign headquarters. We also thank Climate 200 for their support of Monique’s campaign.
Our Campaign Team is now hard at work to establish an office and develop our volunteer and community engagement programs and events. A brief holiday between Christmas and New Year will enable our team to hit the ground running in early January.
Last Sunday Monique met with a group of young voters from Voices of Kooyong and was inspired by their energy and commitment to a stronger, fairer, and more resilient democracy.
Yesterday, Monique took her last clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital where she worked for the past 15 years. It took a great act of courage to resign from her much loved job, where she has helped so many children with neuromuscular disorders to have a better quality of life.
Monique’s campaign will focus on the issues of climate change action, integrity in politics, equality for women, better mental health and aged care, and improving social cohesion. Monique will champion the values of our community, and work to advance the ‘common good’, a strong, fair and future-focused economy, a compassionate approach to refugees, and the just and equal treatment of all people regardless of their sexuality, race, gender, religion, or age.
Monique has also published her ‘Monifesto’ which you can read here:
Over the next few weeks, you can help the campaign by:
- talking with your friends and family about the value of an independent and accountable community representative
- putting up corflutes and wearing your campaign T-shirt
- sharing photos of your corflutes and T-shirts online with the hashtag #mon4kooyong
- thinking of groups in the community who would like to meet with Monique in the New Year – a sign-up page is coming to the website very soon
- signing up to volunteer
- by donating
We hope you have a relaxing, safe and happy holiday break with your family and friends. After such a tough year, we all deserve an opportunity to rest and recharge and to get ready for the great Mon for Kooyong campaign in 2022.
Happy Holidays from Team Mon