Frequently asked questions
Is Voices of Bean a political party?
No. Voices of Bean is simply a community organisation consulting the people of Bean about the issues that are important to them and the qualities they seek in an elected representative. We aim to use this information and community support to endorse an independent candidate who can embody those qualities and champion those issues.
Who is your candidate?
After listening to the community throughout 2024, Voices of Bean endorsed Jessie Price to run as the community independent candidate for Bean in the 2025 election. After a strong campaign, Jessie Price received 49.66% of the two-candidate-preferred vote, making Bean Labor’s most marginal seat. Jessie Price and her volunteers are now focused on building the community for change in 2028. Please get involved.
What is your policy platform?
We don’t have one, we’re listening to what is important to the people of Bean. We’ve produced a first report from this, which informed policies taken to the 2025 election by Jessie Price.
I work for the Public Service, can I get involved?
Yes, we believe you can. Please see Section 6 of the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct for guidance, but we have roles that can involve different levels of exposure, and our work is principally to listen, rather than to express opinions or positions. Our event with ‘Volunteering on Election Campaigns as a Public Servant‘ with Kieran Pender was very helpful; you can watch the recording.
What does Voices of Bean stand for?
Voices of Bean is a group of passionate Canberrans who want better representation for our community in the federal parliament. Our goal is to foster public involvement in democracy in Bean. We are politically independent and know it is time for change. We will listen to the diverse voices of the Bean community and find the ideal community backed candidate to represent us in the next federal election.
Voices of Bean holds these values:
- Positivity. We’re not here to knock anyone, we want to do things better and be our best selves.
- Honesty and Integrity. Lets be the change we want to see.
- Generous and Active Listening. Every opinion starts from a good place and every voice needs to be heard. We’re here to listen not to judge.
- Mutual Respect. We show respect to others and ask to be respected in turn.
- Compromise to succeed. Trust in team work; not everything will be perfect.
- Commit and follow through. We’re realistic about our individual capacities.
Why elect an independent? Doesn’t an MP need to be with a party to form government and be effective?
There is nothing in the Australian constitution or system of government that requires an MP to be a member of a party or that prevents independents helping form government. Indeed, independents can be very effective if they hold a balance of power position, and even if they don’t. Independents can be the most effective representatives of their constituents because they do not have a party to answer to first.
If I vote for an independent, won’t it split the vote or have an unintended outcome?
In Australia’s preferential voting system, you can give your first preference to an independent, and if they are not successful, your vote transfers to the candidate to whom you give your second preference. Hence there is no risk in giving your first preference to an independent, unlike in countries that have a ‘first past the post’ system, where the concept of ‘splitting the vote’ does apply. There’s a good explanation of preferential voting in this video from The Guardian.