PEOPLE POWER
VOICES FOR NICHOLLS GROUP OFFERING ALL COMMUNITY MEMBERS A PLACE TO STAND UP AND BE HEARD
When her request for a children’s playground in her street was refused, Shepparton mum Neha Samar didn’t give up. Four years later her determination to change her community for the better has paid off – plans are now under way to create a recreation park near her home.
Neha Samar was on a walk with her husband in 2017 when the idea for a playground on her street first struck.
Having recently given birth to her first child, Ms Samar noticed there were barely any places for children to enjoy in her Shepparton neighbourhood.
Determined to foster an open space for families to use, she approached Greater Shepparton City Council with the idea to transform an unused patch of land on her street into a recreational area.
Her suggestion was f latly refused. Undeterred, Ms Samar went house-to-house, collecting signatures for what would become a more than 40-signature-strong petition.
Fast forward to 2020 and, after years of sustained pressure, her dream for a playground was accepted by council, with plans now under way for a park in Oxbow Ave.
‘‘We had many kids in the area and it took four years to get it through,’’ Ms Samar said.
‘‘It was a very simple request — we have to walk 15 minutes to get to the nearest playground and cross a highway, but over and over again it was rejected.’’
Ms Samar believes her small act of advocacy displayed something important about the potential of living in a community — ‘‘the power of people coming together’’.
‘‘If you want something bad enough, you’ll get it, change will happen,’’ she said.
Now, Ms Samar has signed up as a founding committee member of grassroots organisation Voices for Nicholls, launched last month to foster government accountability in the electorate.
It is one of dozens of ‘Voices For’ community groups emerging across Australia, centred around anonymous ‘‘kitchen table conversations’’ that promote participatory democracy.
‘‘I’m not into politics. I don’t actively follow it, but I want to speak out about what our community needs,’’ Ms Samar said.
‘‘Coming from a background where we had democracy . . . but it didn’t feel like it, this is an exciting way to finally practise it freely.’’
Ms Samar hoped the Voices for Nicholls movement would encourage others in Shepparton’s diverse community to speak up about their needs.
‘‘There’s a fear, a hesitancy, in migrant communities to come forward and say what you need — because you don’t even know if you’ll be heard and you’re afraid to have a voice,’’ she said.
‘‘That’s what this is about, getting together people from diverse backgrounds, women, mothers, and speaking about what you might want to question, but don’t know who to talk to.’’
Ms Samar starts every conversation with her friends with one question: ‘If you could change something, what would it be?’
‘‘Many say they’re on temporary visas and pay taxes but don’t get Medicare benefits, they can’t put their children in childcare, and I say — ‘this is exactly why you should be a part of it’,’’ she said.
‘‘If you can’t change something, at least you can question it.’’
In the coming weeks, Ms Samar will facilitate the group’s first kitchen table conversation, which will eventually lead to a list of community requests to be presented to Federal Member for Nicholls Damian Drum.
‘‘I want to break down that fear in our CALD community . . . it’s not politics, it’s your chance to speak,’’ Ms Samar said.
‘‘We don’t often get a chance like this, for us to be in a position to make that change is a big deal.’’