Federal Casey MP Aaron Violi was named a Democratic Innovator of the 21st Century and inducted into the Democratic Innovators Hall of Fame for his commitment to engaging with the community he represents through deliberative engagement processes.
Mr Violi received the honour from the Apolitical Foundation and the Democracy and Culture Foundation after being nominated by deliberative democracy organisation, democracyCo.
Mr Violi said he was humbled to receive the recognition.
“My role as our local federal representative is to listen to community and be a strong, local voice for our region. In Casey, we are a large and diverse community, so I have made it a priority to understand the issues that matter in every corner,” he said.
“I grew up in such a strong community here in the Yarra Ranges and I want our community to remain that way. A big part of this work has been about bringing people together to strengthen our region and hear from locals about what they see in our future community.
“I have been proud to partner with democracyCo to lead deliberative democracy within our community and will continue working hand in hand with local community to find solutions to local issues.”
Mr Violi recently worked with democracyCo to host a Community Leaders Forum, giving local leaders from across the Yarra Ranges the opportunity to come together and shape our collective future.
The two-part forum began with an online event and concluded with an in-person event, where over 60 local leaders gathered to envision our future community and discuss ways to strengthen our region.
“Aaron is prepared to pursue democratic innovations – hosting new and bespoke deliberative processes to ensure that he is working with his community in a way that facilitates social cohesion and enables a broad cross section of the voices in his community to discuss issues and to work collaboratively,” democracyCo co-chief executive officer Emma Fletcher said.
