Voices for Forrest has a long history in the electorate. The group got together as early as 2021. In the winter of 2023, a committed group started to organize regular gatherings in the Bunbury library. It was there that the decision was made to follow the example of Voices for Indi: find out what the community wants, and then go and find a community independent representative.

We are an Incorporated Association, and as such we are all volunteers. Most of the work is done by a small core team, with the incredible support of a wonderful crew of committed volunteers. Our circle of contributors and supporters in the community has grown in the past months.

Our supporters are based across the electorate: in Augusta, Margaret River, Witchcliffe, Rosa Brook, Cowaramup, Vasse, Busselton, Dunsborough, Yallingup, Capel, Greater Bunbury, Stratham, Gelorup, Australind, Eaton, Donnybrook, Balingup and Harvey.

We are part of the Community Independents Project network circle. We follow the Indi Way and base our decisions on our Vision, Mission and Values.

We are independent from any other organization but have received a grant from the Community Accelerator Fund (CAF), for which Climate200 has fundraised. Our reasons:

1. The CAF fund consists of donations made by many people (at least 11.000) all across Australia, of which at least 40% live in rural & regional areas (like ours). The fact that this money has been donated by so many people is very important to us and reflects a community spirit.

2. Our values align with Climate 200's values (see here)

3. So far we have been working on a shoestring budget. Most of our costs we (our team) paid for ourselves. Our supporters are very enthusiastic, but donations are very few and would not cover the cost of even our Incorporation and insurance. We will aim to fundraise more actively now that we have more good core volunteers. But the reality is: if we want a Community Independent candidate to stand in the upcoming election, we simply need more funds - now. You're most welcome to donate! (click here)

We are non-partisan and base our focus on what the community finds important, through kitchen table conversations, our survey & events. We are using the reports and the survey results to compile a report which will be used as a guideline to get better representation: by asking candidates to base their decisions and voting on what the people find important.

We genuinely want to hear what the people in Forrest find important in their lives and what a good political representative is.