AHEAD of the upcoming Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, members of the Victorian Women\u2019s Trust were in Ballarat earlier this week as part of their Together, Yes campaign.<\/p>\n
Hosting a community information session at the Mercure, VWT executive director Mary Crooks said the trust\u2019s aim was to brief locals on their discussion process which has been built to \u201cbring the referendum home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not a neutral party here,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re strongly and firmly advocating for a yes vote, and we think we have a method through our kitchen table conversations model, which we\u2019ve been running for over 20 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a method that can really assist people to clarify their thinking, listen and learn with one another, cut through the noise and the negativity that\u2019s out there, and have people feel more self-confident and assured that if they go to a position where they vote yes they\u2019re not feeling ambiguous, confused, or uncertain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they go through our process and they still don\u2019t vote yes, fine, and we hope that they\u2019ve learnt something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trust members are encouraging people to host a kitchen table conversation, which is designed to be a safe space for people to have discussions about the referendum, and to \u201cjoin the dots\u201d with some structured prompts.<\/p>\n
\u201cA conversation host is expected to bring eight or nine other people together, and the groups are expected to meet twice, at home or in a community space,\u201d Ms Crooks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe provide materials they work with, so it\u2019s not an open, free-ranging conversation. It\u2019s actually the group working through activities that are deliberately designed to help people do a deep dive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Together, Yes is partnered with the Yes 23 campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AHEAD of the upcoming Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, members of the Victorian Women\u2019s Trust were in Ballarat earlier this week as part of their Together, Yes campaign. Hosting a community information session at the Mercure, VWT executive director Mary Crooks said the trust\u2019s aim was to brief locals on their discussion process which has […]<\/p>\n