Our history
Independents for Mornington Peninsula grew out of the very encouraging result from the Independent for Flinders campaign at the 2025 federal election. Independent for Flinders was a community led, volunteer powered organisation formed to identify, select, endorse and support a community independent candidate in the electorate of Flinders. At its heart was a simple belief: politics should put community before party, and local people deserve representation that reflects their values, priorities and lived experience.
Following the election, members and supporters came together to reflect on what had been achieved. The strong and encouraging result made one thing clear — there was growing community appetite for this way of doing politics to continue, and to reach beyond a single election or one level of government. People spoke about shared frustrations with party politics, the desire for greater integrity and accountability, and the value of respectful, solutions focused conversations about the issues that matter locally. These challenges, and opportunities, were not confined to federal politics alone. At that post election meeting, a unanimous decision was made to dissolve Independent for Flinders and establish a new incorporated association: Independents for Mornington Peninsula.
Known as Indies for MP, the organisation was formed to support and strengthen community independent engagement across the Mornington Peninsula, at the federal electorate of Flinders, the Victorian electorates of Hastings, Mornington and Nepean, and Mornington Peninsula Shire. Independents for Mornington Peninsula reflects an ongoing commitment to community led democracy, and to independent representation that remains accountable to local people.
Our values
Our values have been shaped through committee discussion and member input, and reflect how we choose to work together and engage with our community.
We believe in fairness, integrity and respect in public life.
We value honesty, transparency, courage and humility, and we work collaboratively as a community rather than as individuals in isolation.
These values guide our decisions, our behaviour, and the way we create space for thoughtful and responsible engagement — even when issues are complex or opinions differ.
What we do
In line with our Constitution, we exist to:
- Support and promote community backed independent candidates at all levels of government
- Host community events, forums and activities that strengthen political engagement and civic participation
- Advocate for integrity, transparency and community accountability in public life
As part of the broader community independents movement, our focus is on helping people move from being observers of politics to active participants in it. Community independent candidates don’t emerge from party rooms or central offices. They come from the community — through bottom up, community initiated processes shaped by local voices and shared values.
Across Australia, the movement is united around a small number of shared policy pillars: integrity in public life, meaningful action on climate, and gender equality. How those priorities are expressed is shaped locally, through community conversations and the work of each endorsed candidate.
We facilitate structured, community led processes to identify and consider people who are interested in being endorsed as a community independent candidate. This begins by inviting expressions of interest from across the whole community. We assess applications, shortlist candidates, conduct interviews and undertake appropriate checks before selecting and publicly announcing an endorsed candidate.
If you would like to know more about us, please reach out.