NCV Business Plan

Overview

This is a summary of the NCV Business Plan. It gives an overview of the underlying values, the strategic direction and the community engagement processes that determine how Northside Community Voices (NCV) operates.

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Northside Community Voices Inc. (NCV) is a not-for-profit, non-partisan community association covering the City of Moreton Bay (CoMB). Membership is generally open to all residents of our area aged 16 years and over who agree to abide by the association’s Code of Conduct. Our objective is to create an organisation that encourages our community to become actively involved (i.e. have a “Voice”) in the democratic processes and decision-making affecting their physical and natural environment and quality of life and that of future generations living in the area.

NCV was organically created to operate as a community movement that functions in three modes through election cycles. At the start of each new period of office at each level, we collect and communicate community wishes to elected representatives (COMMUNICATION Mode) assess the performance of incumbents and candidates as the next election approaches (ACCOUNTABILITY Mode) and, when required, support independent candidates who uphold integrity, transparency, and genuine representation (CAMPAIGN Mode).

NCV is a growing community of local people working together to strengthen democracy, build community agency, and create positive change where we live. We exist because many people feel politics isn’t listening — and because we believe our community can do better when everyday people come together.

2.0 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

2.1 Dickson Decides In 2024, Dickson Decides was formed by a group of concerned residents that were searching for a motivate, energetic candidate to stand against Peter Dutton, the then Federal Member for Dickson and Leader of the LNP Opposition.

2.2 Campaign for the 2025 Federal Election Ellie Smith, a young professional woman with a background in environmental science and community engagement was endorsed and supported by over 400 volunteers from group to campaign for the May 2025 election. She achieved 12% of the primary vote (over 20% in the Samford area) and her preferences helped Ali France, the Labor candidate, easily defeat Peter Dutton in the final count.

2.3 Casual Vacancy in Division 11 In mid-July 2025, Darren Grimwade, Councillor for Division 11 resigned from the City of Moreton Bay (CoMB) Council. At a subsequent meeting of many of the volunteers at Samford on 20^th July, Ellie Smith announced she was prepared to stand in the by-election to replace Cr. Grimwade and was supported by the group.

The result was a resounding win for Ellie Smith. She achieved almost half the first preference votes (48.22%) and her nearest rival had achieved less than half that total (Dean Clements, LNP 23.27%) and none of the other 5 candidates exceeded 10%. Ellie was duly declared the winner and was sworn in by the Mayor as the new Councillor for Division 11 at a ceremony on 10^th October 2025.

3.0 FORMATION OF NORTHSIDECOMMUNITY VOICES

3.1 What are Community Voices We believe that the wishes or desired outcomes expressed by residents about how they want for their area and community and what they want governments to do to help them achieve on their behalf. To achieve this, a number of the former members of Dickson Decides and the independent election campaign volunteers decided at a meeting in July 2025 to form Northside Community Voices

3.2 Defining our Area Unlike many other voices groups around Australia that focus on a single electorate, it was decided that our area would cover the entirety of the City of Moreton Bay. Involvement in such a large area required us to focus on community democracy issues at all electoral areas lying mainly within the boundaries of CoMB, including:

12 Local Government Divisions
8 State Government Electorates (as defined in the recent redistribution by the Queensland Electoral Commission) and
3 Federal Government Divisions

3.3 Legal and Organisational Structure NCV was established as an incorporated not-for-profit organization in late 2025. Our Constitution endeavours to empower non-partisan participation in democratic processes by making provision for two classes of membership:

Members – adult residents of CoMB (excluding elected representatives) who are encouraged to express their desired outcomes for our area and are entitled to vote in NCV meetings; and
Friends – people under the age of 16 or supporters who live outside the CoMB area and wish to become involved I NCV activities or volunteer for NCV-endorsed independent candidates are welcome to join as Friends of NCV

NCV activities are managed by an elected Board, assisted by a senior management team comprising the Convenors of Working Groups and the Coordinators of our electorate teams.

4.0 PURPOSE, VALUES AND DESIRED OUTCOMES

4.1 Defining our Purpose The primary purpose of our association is to allow residents to participate in community-based democratic activity in our northside area. We aim to provide the means for Members of NCV. to clearly identify outcomes they wish to see occur at the local, state, national and internationals levels, to communicate those wishes to elected representatives and decision-makers and hold them accountable for achieving them.

We also want to be able to support Members who are concerned about particular issues that they believe are consistent with our values and desired outcomes to be able to call upon NCV for assistance, such as preparing and disseminating a petition, publicising the cause, recruiting interested Members as Volunteers etc.

4.2 Our Shared Values NCV, like many similar community-focused democratic action groups around Australia shares values of integrity, climate action, and transparency, with a focus on empowering local communities to support candidates who prioritise community needs and local issues, while also addressing broader state, national and international concerns like equality, climate change and integrity in politics. Our values and commitments are shown in full on our Values page.

4.3 Operating Processes and Behaviours The Code of Conduct and Terms of Service that everybody must conform to while using the website or communicating with other members will be used to ensure compliance with our expected standards of behaviour. The NCV Constitution, which was based on the Qld Office of Fair Trading Model Rules, contains extensive provisions for conflict and dispute resolution, as required under the Act.

4.4 Liaison with Existing Organisations NCV will collaborate with and learn from other similar groups anywhere in Australia, or internationally, working towards comparable community democratic objectives. Many other organisations have Working Groups that are researching and attempting to find acceptable solutions to common problems, such as housing, climate change, renewable energy etc. NCV wishes to agree on Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with other like-minded bodies and encourage some of their people to join NCV as Friends so they can collaborate on knowledge sharing and development of approaches and policies for organisations and Independent politicians to embrace and promote.

5.0 OPERATIONAL PLAN

5.1 Community Needs Assessment The stated purpose of NCV is to capture and record the authentic wishes of the residents of the CoMB LGA who are aligned with our shared values and prepared to abide by our core principles for participation that cover respectful, evidence-based communication, inclusivity and diversity and avoidance of harassment, bullying and extremist views. On that basis, we aim to champion views from as wide a cross-section of the community as possible commensurate with the relative amount of popular support for those views, as expressed by Members.

We believe it is important to employ both democratic processes capturing the mood and passion of community feelings and contemporary online data capture and analytics to reinforce and communicate the authentic voices from the community to all levels of government and then hold representatives accountable.

5.2 Assessment of Existing Plans and Policies NCV actively reviews the strategic plans, defined outcome statements (however vaguely expressed) and policies of Local, State and Federal Governments as they apply to our area. Our aim is to monitor the extent to which those stated intentions are implemented and the degree, rate and quality with which residents believe they are achieved.

5.3 SWOT Analysis Our Business Plan includes a detailed analysis of the internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats facing our organisations in its mission to improve democratic processes, educate and inform discussion around important issues and impact the long-term quality of community life and environmental sustainability of our area.

5.4 Growing our Membership NCV uses strategies to grow name recognition encourage people to join, as Members or Friends, through a range of electronic and traditional community engagement events, surveys, petitions and listening meetings. We understand most people have busy lives and important family commitments, so we expect the vast majority of Members to play a passive, supportive role until important issues arise that may prompt them into action to promote a good idea or oppose a bad one.

5.5 Technology Platform NCV is a founding member of a consortium developing a low-cost IT platform for any campaigning not-for-profit community organization. Based on an open-source Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) paired with a WordPress front-end, this system is designed to support all community engagement and collaboration activities between elections, as well as the candidate assessment and campaigning activities.

5.6 Behaviour Management and Safeguards Nobody can register as a Member, become an affiliated Interested Party or work in the Secretariat unless they have agreed to abide by the NCV’s Code of Conduct. Although NCV is a non-partisan organisation potentially open to all adult residents of our area, the Code of Conduct is our first line of defence in keeping out increasingly hostile and aggressive people who subscribe to conspiracy theories, pseudo-law ‘Sovereign Citizen’ movements, racists, and similar-minded people who cause so much distress and offence once they infiltrate positive, progressive community organisations.

Our Code of Conduct page is the foundation of a nested hierarchy of measures designed to apply appropriately at different levels of involvement in the operation and management of the association. We take great care to de-identify and protect our data and we only retain data that we are required to maintain by legislation and included in our Constitution. The Terms of Service page sets out explicit rules and the powers of the Association to enforce them. Our Constitution contains clauses governing warnings for infringements of any type, powers of suspension and termination of membership, appeals and mediation

5.7 Strategic Direction Once the organisational formation stage has settled down, the Board will prepare a draft annual Strategy for consideration, possible amendment and ratification at the next quarterly General Meeting. The strategic direction will focus on the long-term objects of the association without precluding Members’ options for being involved in petitions or action that may arise from time to time and require our attention.

6.0 BETWEEN ELECTIONS – COMMUNICATION MODE

6.1 Voice Operations The main “object” of NCV is to provide a “voice” to all levels of government directly from the residents of our area, telling those representatives how we, as citizens, want them to act and what we want them to achieve on our behalf. We are still working on a combination of direct, online entry of outcome statements and recording the wishes of residents following community engagement events, surveys and petitions.

Working Groups are also involved in collating outcomes, researching, summarising and presenting their findings in White Papers, policy suggestions and discussion agendas that can be brought to the attention of the public, media outlets and our elected representatives. This output can be stored on our online NCV Knowledge Base where interested members of the public can access a trusted source of information on important issues using the advanced search function to identify relevant material.

6.2 Community Actions and Petitions NCV Members and Friends can use our communication technology to gather around emerging issues that people feel strongly enough about to take direct action. Concerned parties may wish to raise awareness of a particular problem or need about which they want more immediate action taken by responsible authorities, rather than waiting for long-term change. Such actions can include petitions, protests and delegations to relevant government decision-makers.

6.3 Affiliation with National Movements NCV is playing an active role in advancing the community independent movement on a national basis. We believe that, to preserve non-partisan status, there is merit in establishing clear legal and funding separation between Voices movements and the political campaigns to elect Community Independents.

We see Voices organisations as being focussed on community democracy/outcomes and changing their communities for the better.

We see the role of Independent candidates and elected members is to try to change governments for the better.

By creating this clear distinction, Voices groups can focus on outcomes that benefit their social, environmental and economic circumstances and the way they want to be governed. Independents can focus on policies, processes and governance checks and balances to deliver the wishes of their constituents.

7.0 APPROACHING ELECTIONS – ACCOUNTABILITY MODE

7.1 Satisfaction Review NCV will be attempting to assess the community’s level of satisfaction with all the major issues identified as being high priority concerns (both positive initiatives and negative impacts on communal life or our environment) through our ongoing conversations with residents in all the neighbourhoods across our area.

7.2 Holding Elected Representatives Accountable It is a difficult task to assess the performance of politicians fairly and objectively (party politics, being in opposition, budgeting/affordability etc. are all important variables). The three main guides to assessing performances may be summarised as:

What they have said they are going to do:
How they behave and what they actually do: and
Whether Community outcomes are being achieved or community culture is beneficially impacted

7.3 Independent Candidate Identification, Vetting and Endorsement We will instigate a process of identifying a suitable candidate to run in that electorate (local, state or federal) with NCV endorsement and support. Each time such a determination is made, the Board will establish a new “Candidate Endorsement and Integrity Committee” of three to five Members from that electorate.

If the Committee is successful in identifying a suitable candidate willing to proceed with nomination, NCV will enter into an agreement with the candidate covering the contribution of both parties to the campaign and the expectations of the performance of parties over the period up until the next election, if the candidate is successful. In general terms, without prejudice to the circumstances of each future possible situation, endorsement would commit the parties as follows:

NCV would provide volunteers to assist with campaign tasks like roadside, door-knocking, telephone, flyer distribution, meeting support etc. and use of the campaign tools of the NCV IT platform; and
The Candidate would establish a separate legal entity to manage fundraising, insurance and provision of signage, T-shirts, advertising etc.

7.4 Ranking of Alignment The Accountability phase will conclude when fresh elections are called and may include discussion of the performance of incumbents in the form of an assessment of their progressive Annual Report Cards and an assessment and ranking of their alignment with NCV values and agendas based on the “pitch” we requested them to make on our website and Members’ rating of their platform and perceived capabilities.

We will never produce a “How to Vote” leaflet, but for every seat being contested at the local, state and federal level we will produce a leaflet listing the candidates in ranked order according to how closely they align with NCV values and agendas based on information they will be invited to supply and which is ranked on the 0 to 5 satisfaction scale by Members of that electorate.

8.0 DURING ELECTIONS – CAMPAIGN MODE

8.1 Separating the Voices Operations from Campaigning NCV’s non-partisan Constitution is designed to offer membership to anybody from the “broad church” of opinion that exists in any community but excluding extremists who are not prepared to abide by the Code of Conduct. Consistent with this philosophy, NCV Members are free at election time to campaign for the candidate of their own personal choice. The section below outlines the steps the association will take in the leadup to and during elections to maximise the success of candidates that are most aligned with NCV values and the desired outcomes of Members.

8.2 Political Campaigning for Community Outcomes and Priorities In the lead-up to the election, and on polling day, we will hand out flyers listing the candidates in descending order of the average score to which we believe they are aligned with NCV values and outcomes, with non-participating, null-scored candidates shown last. We will have NCV branding and brief explanation on the flyers and will call them something like “NCV Candidate Alignment”.

8.3 Supporting NCV-endorsed Candidates To become an NCV-endorsed independent the candidate must form their own separate campaign entity, funding arrangements and adopt a platform consistent with NCV values and outcomes agenda. NCV will then assist by providing advice, volunteers and access to NCV campaign software platform in accordance with an Endorsement Agreement to be signed by both parties.

The major sustainable advantage independent voices groups have is the size and enthusiasm of the volunteer force they seem to be able to raise in Australia. We expect, when the level of interest in politics is raised in the leadup to an election, a significant proportion of Members will be sufficiently motivated to volunteer for campaigning for NCV-endorsed candidates.

Once NCV-endorsed candidates have signed the agreement their nominated campaign staff will receive training on the use of our campaign tools and familiarization with that sub-set of our data for the contested electorate that that is accessible to them under the terms of the agreement.

9.0 FINANCIAL PLAN

9.1 Fundraising NCV is a genuinely grass-roots community association and has received no funding from any political party, crowdfunding aggregator or corporate donors. We will state clearly and publicly on our website that we intend to maintain full transparency on funding sources and operational support. NCV does not solicit funding for or spend Members’ funds on political campaigning. Any candidate running with NCV endorsement will be required to establish a separate campaign and fundraising vehicle with no legal or financial ties to NCV.

Although membership is free, NCV will be encouraging Members to become sustaining donors by chipping in whatever they can afford to pay each month. We will also seek to raise funds through grants, sponsorship, philanthropy, fundraising functions and merchandise sales etc. We will also establish a corporate sponsorship program by creating mutually beneficial relationships with organisations that are seen to be supportive of our values and who do not create any conflicts of interest through such a relationship.

9.2 Budget Our budget during the formation, recruitment and preliminary operations phase is very modest. Through donations from founding members we have been able to cover the costs of incorporation and the initial production of branded corflutes and T-shirts. We are making plans for attracting suitable corporate sponsorship, grants and sustaining donations from members.

9.3 Tax Issues NCV may be liable to submit annual tax returns but this situation will be clarified by the Board making application to the ATO for tax-exempt status.

9.4 Insurance We have obtained Public Liability insurance and are looking into the necessity of other insurance cover as the organisation grows.

9.5 Banking and Accounting We have opened a bank account with the Samford branch of Bendigo Bank. Bendigo Bank has procedures in place for e-banking on accounts with ‘two to sign’ where one person initiates a transaction, but the other person needs to approve it before the transaction is completed. We plan to establish automatic deductions for regular expenses for communications and IT subscriptions etc.

Our anticipated revenues are not expected to exceed the limit where professional auditors are required to sign off on our annual returns. We are hoping to identify a Member with the necessary financial management skills to assist our Treasurer and President, either of whose signature on the financial return statements would be sufficient to meet Government requirements.

10.0 APPENDICES

10.1 What are Outcome Statements? Our “VOICES” in Northside Community Voices are expressed as “outcomes“. Outcomes should be written as clear, specific, and measurable statements of the expected changes or benefits for your local (and sometimes wider) community resulting from the activities (outputs – policies, projects and services) of our Local, State and Federal Governments and outputs. They are about the changes you want responsible and accountable governments to make. When we judge their performance, it will be in terms of the effort they have made and the impact they have made on improving our desired outcomes – not simply a list of what they have done! This section includes Key Guidelines for Writing Outcomes.

10.2 Our Area and Electoral Boundaries Our area is currently defined as the City of Moreton Bay. This section includes the names of the suburbs assigned to each Local Government Division and the names of each of the 8 State Government Electorates and 3 Federal Government Divisions (see NCV area map)

10.3 Behaviours This section sets out the etiquette NCV encourages Members to adopt during our online and in-person dealings with each other and with the public, including:

What do we want in our safe space?
Important Words we will keep alive
As members of Northside Community Voices, we all agree to:
In our interactions with others, we agree to:
The Board and Working Group Convenors agree to:
Don’ts to make sure we don’t slip into

10.4. Data Model The information stored in each Member’s profile includes the mandatory fields that Members must fill out as part of the online registration process and a range of optional fields that they can choose to provide additional information about themselves and their interests etc. Members will be able at any time to login and edit or update most of their profile information but not edit or delete certain mandatory fields required for legal or operational purposes.

NCV handles financial data from donations received via the website, fundraising events and planned merchandise sales. We will keep a normal set of accounts to track donations, sales, cost of goods sold, receipts etc. Customer financial data from sales and donors will be retained in relation to dates, amounts, name and address etc. but no bank account or credit card details will be kept on our system.

10.5. Candidate Legal Requirements This section contains references to the Local, State and Federal legal requirements for candidates standing for election at each level of government.