Renewable energy, social justice and community voices having more sway in decision making are the hot topics as decided by a group of engaged Canberrans to take to the Albanese Government.
The inaugural Canberra Forum was held on Saturday, an Aussie-first consensus-based, deliberative grassroots democracy model run by Member for Canberra Alicia Payne.
The Forum is made up of 40 volunteers chosen at random from the electoral roll to advise Ms Payne on priority issues for her to advocate for in Parliament or take to the Labor caucus.
The group is made up of a broad cross-section of the community, including age, profession, background and geographic location within the electorate.
They will be meeting for 20 hours once a month for the next six months to hear from experts after which they will make recommendations for Ms Payne.
This model is being facilitated by decision-making advocates DemocracyCo which will develop a handbook for other state and federal MPs.
Canberra uni student Jack Golson-Lai attended the first meeting and was happy to give up his time to take part in the discussions where the group identified its priority topics.
The 21 year-old grew up in Canberra and cited his priority issues as climate change, affordable housing and equitable distribution of wealth.
He said he had been enjoying the process and was keen to have some input into issues that could be taken to Parliament.
"I've always had an interest in politics, processes and international relations, I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk to people and find out what they are worried about," Mr Golson-Lai.
"But I hope it won't become another piece of paper that gets lost in the wind, I hope it has some impact. It's good knowing the government is interested in talking to its citizens."
The group will begin to hear from experts on the three topics at the next meeting in order to make informed recommendations to Ms Payne.
Ms Payne said the forum was designed to have some "science" behind it, to hear from people who may not usually contact their local MP.
She said she was "proud" the group was prepared to give up its Saturday and raise such "altruistic issues" such as climate change and social justice.
"One subject was housing affordability, this is a major concern for most Canberrans, and in terms of climate change, we are talking about the survival of the planet," Ms Payne said.
Those who are not officially part of the group are also welcome to register to sit-in at the next meeting for a look and listen.
"I want to take these issues into the federal sphere where I can have some influence. This is about hearing from people we may not usually hear from and different perspectives," Ms Payne said.
"I was keen to offer the citizens of Canberra the opportunity to participate in a deliberative, democratic process, in addition to my usual ongoing engagements with constituents through the more traditional methods such as mobile offices and forums."
