It was fantastic to be in a room full of people with so much experience, most of whom have been leaders in some capacity throughout their working lives.

McGowan spoke about grass roots leadership - and implored Rotary to continue to expand its influence on young and upcoming leaders in regional communities.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, her message really struck a chord with me.

Voices for Indi is the name of the unassuming movement that in 2013 ousted the incumbent Liberal candidate, Sophie Mirabella, and put McGowan on the road to Canberra.

Her story is one for the history books, as it truly demonstrates the power of a community who come together to identify and solve real problems faced by our neighbours every day.

However, the best thing about McGowan's story is that it's not hers. It's the Indi electorate's story; a story that continues under the leadership of current MP Helen Haines.

Similar campaigns are popping up across the country, including Waringah where people power unseated former PM Tony Abbott and installed Zali Steggall in 2019.

Albury mayor Kevin Mack made a run at Sussan Ley in the 2019 election as part of a "Voices for Farrer" movement, taking 20.49 per cent of the vote - more than double the support of any independent in that electorate's history.

Clearly, the impact that McGowan and the Voices for Indi movement has had on Australian voters has been considerable.

With an apparent surge in the popularity of independent political representation in parliament, McGowan was quick to remind us that it's not actually all about winning.

She rightly pointed out that the "safe" seats in Australia don't get the same attention (or funding) as the contested seats.

Outside of the electorate, who had heard of Indi before 2013? Now, most people are aware of Indi and McGowan's nail-biting victory over the Liberal candidate, because it was given so much media attention.

By bringing the fight to the political table, we are seeing increasing pressure being applied to the incumbent party seat holders and this can only spell good things for the region.

Carolyn M Hendriks from The Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU has written an article about the citizen-led democratic reform that Voices for Indi characterised.

She suggests that we are experiencing a "disconnect" between formal government institutions and more "informal spaces of political participation," with an emphasis on the citizens themselves and how they are "seeking to transform dysfunctional democratic practices."

Hendriks also suggests that in this realm of informal political participation, people are choosing to join advocacy groups, sign online petitions, attend protests and so on, rather than join political parties - in fact, membership to political parties is in decline.

She concludes that the face of politics is slowly changing and moving away from the party politics that has defined this space in Australia (and indeed, the western world) for so long.

It seems that politics has never before been so within reach for so many.

When political issues are discussed around regular "kitchen table conversations", when communities volunteer for campaigns to do everything from sewing banners to making the banner frames, to baking food and giving people a place to come and air grievances and discuss the solutions to problems, politics is brought to us.

Last Tuesday, McGowan talked about the value of mentoring, grassroots leadership, community involvement and listening to each other as the key to shaping the future of our nation.

We can all play a part in this. Voice your concerns, talk about local issues, write to your local member, attend political forums and ask questions, but - most importantly - don't shut others down when they speak - even if they disagree with you.

The friction of discussion is what moves us forward and shutting out people with a different perspective doesn't mean you are right, it means that you aren't listening.

Voices for Indi showed we have more in common than we have dividing us - and we can achieve anything if we really listen to each other.

Zoë Wundenberg is a careers consultant and un/employment advocate at impressability.com.au. Twitter: @ZoeWundenberg