The Town Team Charter Town Team Charter is a shared story of what Town Teams are and how they are expected to act. It’s a summary of the ‘Town Team Way’.

Guiding Principle 3 of the Charter requires that Town Teams be 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.

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.

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 Town Teams and the amazing work they do in the community.

If you do have any specific questions, please let us know!