The third guiding principle of our movement is ‘Apolitical and Independent’.
As the principle suggests, the Town Team Way is “beyond politics.” Town Teams do not advocate for or align with political parties or candidates. They are independent from governments, but work closely and constructively with them.
Being apolitical means being politically neutral or not ‘choosing a side’, but it does not mean being completely ‘non-political’. You can still engage with relevant elected members. You can give any speaking, engagement or event attendance opportunities equally to your local representatives. You can also invite them to your meetings and keep them across your activities in the community.
We know that many people have strong personal political convictions and that is fine. We want people from all walks of life to be involved in the movement. But, we leave those personal political convictions “at the door” when we have our Town Team hat on. Town Teams work for the benefit of their communities, not for individual or factional advancement.
From time to time, particularly around local government election time, we field a number of questions around political candidates and Councillors’ involvement in Town Teams. To ensure that the Charter is maintained, Councillors and Members of Parliament are unable to hold official or voting positions on Town Teams.
If an existing Town Team committee member wishes to run as a candidate for local, State or Commonwealth Government elections, they are required to step down from their official role in the Town Team upon the official announcement of their intention. The Town Team should ensure it remains impartial and not get involved in elections or campaigning (this includes no posts on social media that favour a particular candidate or party).
We have found that this is not only the right ethical position to take, but also works at a pragmatic level by protecting individual teams and the wider movement (the collective of teams) from political manoeuvres.
While they cannot be official members of Town Teams, we encourage all councillors and Members of Parliament to support local Town Teams and the amazing work they do in their community. As such, Town Teams should try and invite a a broad cross-section of elected representatives to their events.
If you get approached by a political party or political aspirant to sponsor an event or activity of yours, feel free to accept the donation, however try and make any other running members aware of the donations and invite them to also donate at the same amount and sponsorship level.
If you do have any specific questions, please let us know!
Note There are slightly different definitions of apolitical. The Collins Dictionary defines apolitical in British English as being “politically neutral; without political attitudes, content, or bias.”
