Never before, throughout the history of Australian democracy, have we seen so many culturally diverse women in politics.

Indeed, 2021 was a watershed year for Women of Colour in Australian politics. We launched our first ever 'Women of Colour -Political Candidate Training' workshop and created Candid Conversations with culturally diverse politicians and candidates.

We also saw 2 Aboriginal women and 1 African woman elected to the Western Australian Parliament and an unprecedented number of Women of Colour nominated to run in the NSW Local Government Elections.

By 2022, two more Aboriginal women Senators were elected to State Parliaments of WA and VIC and we saw the most culturally diverse Federal Election ever! Over 150 candidates of colour pre-selected to run for office with the major parties - Liberal (27), Labor (26) and Greens (18) - leading the way on diversity and inclusion.

The impact of the waves of culturally diverse candidates running for office resulted in 22 People of Colour elected to Australia's 47th Parliament. Astonishingly, 17 (77%) are Women of Colour Federal Politicians who are proudly representing us and raising our voices at the highest levels of leadership in the land.

For the third year running, we are again delivering Political Candidate Training for Women of Colour (VIC, NSW, ACT, QLD, SA, NT) to ensure more Women of Colour get elected.

Our online workshop offers contextualised training that speaks directly to the experience of Women of Colour in overcoming many of the structural barriers to running for public office.

Throughout the 3 x 2hr sessions, we cover topics such as Women of Colour in politics, the Australian political system, eligibility and pre-selection, building community support, campaign management, digital defence and more.

As an added bonus, this workshop is designed to prepare Women of Colour to apply for the Pathways to Politics Program for Women, a national, proudly non-partisan initiative that aims to change the face of politics by equipping women with the skills, knowledge, confidence and networks they need to run for elected office and thrive as political leaders. https://pathwaystopolitics.org.au/

Political Candidate Training for Women of Colour

-- This workshop is online and runs over 3 x 2hr evening sessions --

Dates: Mon 20, Thurs 23 and Tues 28 February 2023

Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm AEDT

Venue: online (via zoom)

Cost: Free

Guest Speakers: Some of the country's most inspiring and formidable women of colour leaders will join our workshop to talk about their journey through leadership and politics, including:

Monday 20 Feb Cr Natalia Muszkat - Gladstone Regional Council, QLD
Thursday 23 Feb Cr Emelda Davis - City of Sydney, NSW
Tuesday 28 Feb Sheena Watt MP - Member for Northern Metropolitan, VIC
Elizabeth Lee MLA - Member for Kurrajong, ACT
Michelle Deshong - Political Scientist, Lead Facilitator for Straight Talk

Upon completion, attendees will have greater capacity and confidence to understand how to navigate Local, State and Federal elections, with a renewed passion and drive to run for office. Aspirants will be encouraged to apply for Pathways to Politics Program for Women, a national network of independent state and territory-based programs run by Australian universities including University of Melbourne, Queensland University of Technology, University of New South Wales, Charles Darwin University, University of Adelaide, and University of Canberra. More information on Pathways is available here.

Workshop Facilitators

Katja Henaway

Kat is a descendant of the Mer and Mua peoples of the Torres Strait Islands. Over the past 20 years, Kat has worked for some of the world’s largest private sector companies as well as public sector organisations in Australia and the UK. From 2009-2014, Kat worked at City of Sydney Council commencing in the Office of Independent Councillors and later moving to Council business. During her time at council she launched several Indigenous initiatives including NAIDOC in the City and supported the development of Council's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel. Today, Kat is an entrepreneur and Director of several enterprises including Politics in Colour and Women’s Business. She was Board director of Women for Election (2018-2020) and is currently Indigenous Advisor to Women & Leadership Australia.

Tharini Rouwette

Tharini is Founder & Director of and Centre of Multicultural Political Engagement, Literacy and Leadership (CoMPELL). She comes with a strong background in media, technology, and progressive grassroots activism/fundraising in Singapore, US and Australia. She led an army of 500+ Australian volunteers who campaigned hard for the Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders and although he did not become the President of the United States, they managed to win him enough votes, from abroad, to become one of the most influential figures in the Biden administration.

This initiative is proudly supported by the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia and Trawalla Foundation as part of its commitment to the Pathways to Politics Program for Women network.

Pathways was founded and launched by the University of Melbourne in 2016 in partnership with the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia, and Trawalla Foundation to redress the under-representation of women in Australian parliaments and councils. The Pathways to Politics Program for Women is committed to minimising barriers to enter politics and diversity is core to its principles and values.