What is Transition Australia? Our mission is: Inspiring, connecting and supporting groups to build a localised, sustainable and just future. We are a network of groups that operate individually but benefit from being connected. Transition Australia was set up to connect and support groups in Australia on their transition journey. We want to make it easier for these groups to find each other, share resources, learn and be inspired. These groups may focus on sustainability, food security, or equity but they share the aim to build a better world – from the ground up. This website aims to:
• inspire
• help groups connect
• support groups with resources.
Our values and principles
Head, Heart and Hands: Doing Transition successfully is about finding a balance between:
• The Head: we act on the basis of the best information and evidence available and apply our collective intelligence to find better ways of living.
• The Heart: we work with compassion, valuing and paying attention to the emotional, psychological, relational and social aspects of the work we do.
• The Hands: we turn our vision and ideas into a tangible reality, initiating practical projects and starting to build a new, healthy economy in the place we live.
Our guiding principles
• We freely share ideas and power: Transition is a grassroots movement, where ideas can be taken up rapidly, widely and effectively because each community takes ownership of the process themselves. Transition looks different in different places and we want to encourage rather than unhelpfully constrain that diversity.
• We pay attention to balance: In responding to urgent, global challenges, individuals and groups can end up feeling stressed, closed or driven rather than open, connected and creative. We create space for reflection, celebration and rest to balance the times when we’re busily getting things done. And we explore different ways of working which engage our heads, hands and hearts and enable us to develop collaborative and trusting relationships.
• We are part of an experimental, learning network: Transition is a real-life, real-time global social experiment. Being part of a network means we can create change more quickly and more effectively, drawing on each other’s experiences and insights. We want to acknowledge and learn from failure as well as success – if we’re going to be bold and find new ways of living and working, we won’t always get it right first time. We will be open about our processes and will actively seek and respond positively to feedback.
• We respect resource limits and create resilience: The urgent need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, greatly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and make wise use of precious resources is at the forefront of everything we do.
• We promote inclusion and social justice: The most disadvantaged and powerless people in our societies are likely to be worst affected by rising fuel and food prices, resource shortages and extreme weather events. We want to increase the chances of all groups in society to live well, healthily and with sustainable livelihoods.
• We collaborate and look for synergies: The Transition approach is to work together as a community, unleashing our collective genius to have a greater impact together than we can as individuals. We look for opportunities to build creative and powerful partnerships across and beyond the Transition movement and develop a collaborative culture, finding links between projects, creating open decision-making processes and designing events and activities that help people make connections.
• We foster positive visioning and creativity: Our primary focus is not on being against things, but on developing and promoting positive possibilities. We believe in using creative ways to engage and involve people, encouraging them to imagine the future they want to inhabit. The generation of new stories is central to this visioning work, as is having fun and celebrating.
• We adopt local decision-making: The intention of the Transition model is not to centralise or control decision-making, but rather to work with everyone so that it is practised at the most appropriate, practical and empowering level.
Transition Australia is recognised by the Transition Network Inc as the national hub for Australia. We are guided by the same values and principles.
Our Purposes, Rules and policies
Our Purposes:
supporting the effectiveness of Transition Towns and other not-for-profit organisations in Australia that are working to advance an ecologically regenerative and socially just future by:
• raising and distributing funds to support the ability of these organisations to carry out activities that advance an ecologically regenerative and socially just future;
• providing a platform for all people interested in creating an ecologically regenerative and socially just future so they can identify common needs and community-led possibilities for positive change, discuss best practices and share inspiration and learnings;
• curating, developing and distributing tools, training and other resources to support organisations to carry out activities that advance an ecologically regenerative and socially just future; and
• engaging with the public, private and civic sectors across Australia to advance the aims of ecological regeneration and social justice in regard to public policy and decision-making processes; and
• being affiliated with the international Transition Network and liaising with other national Transition Town Hubs and national not-for-profit sustainability groups in seeking to achieve an ecologically regenerative and socially just future throughout the world.