Canberra Region

NENA Canberra Regional Hub

About the Hub

The NENA Canberra Regional Hub has been created to build connections between people in Canberra and the areas surrounding the ACT, who are interested in building a new economy. We also connect with the wider NENA network around Australia.

We hold our monthly meetups in tandem with Co-ops, Commons and Communities Canberra (CoCanberra), a subgroup of SEE-Change. CoCanberra volunteer teams are building the first “Climate Co-ops” to begin building the new economy within the shell of the old.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
― Buckminster Fuller

We run the weekly radio show Behind the Lines, and host the Align in the Sound Podcast, which also hosts lots of sessions from past NENA conferences – find them by using the playlists. We are also part of the NENA Podcast team.

Convenors

Please contact us anytime if you have any questions, or would like to connect with people in Canberra

News & Events

In the last month, CoCanberra's Radio Behind the Lines has talked with the Co-op Federation alongside the Business Council for Co-ops and Mutuals; Charles Levcoe on regen agriculture; the new Earthworker Construction Co-op; and the food rescue outfit OZ Harvest. We also recorded and aired a presentation by survivors of the atomic testing here in Australia.
You can hear replays of the last 4 shows HERE, and check out our archives and much more at our Align in the Sound Podcast.
  • The next Picnic Day for CoCanberra's Soil City Co-operative Farms  is on 13th August 2023, 1pm, at 751 Bungendore Rd - about 30 minutes from civic. Come along to learn about the project, see our first farming site, do a bit of work to help out, and have a lovely picnic!
  • From our local Community Independents mob proACT, who were instrumental in getting David Pocock elected: Cathy McGowan's Community Independent's Project will be hosting an online convention on 5-7 August on "Next Steps" which you may like to attend: https://www.community independent project.org/convention
  • On Thursday 28th July, in front of new parliament house at high noon there is a rally in support of Julian Assange, the journalist who has been persecuted by the UK and USA for over 10 years for blowing the whistle on war crimes and corruption. The UK is currently set to extradite Julian to the USA. Julian is not a citizen of the USA, and did not commit any crimes inside the USA. See the rally info HERE
  • Australian Student Environment Netwok's Canberra chapter is organising an activist Training Camp this year at Silver Wattle - a property 35 minutes out of Canberra near Bungendore from 4 to 7 August 2023. It will be an activist skillshare and political education camp with a series of workshops where we will share knowledge, skills and build important connections plus more relaxed social time around the campfire sharing and meeting as well. It is open to all who want to learn, if you treat others and the space with respect. See https://events.humanitix.com/asen-training-camp or Email asencanberra@gmail.com to find out more.
  • The new film Rachel’s Farm will be coming to our area for a special Q&A screening event with Rachel Ward and special guests Tanya Massey & Tony Hill, on Saturday 5th August, 2.30 pm at Palace Electric Cinema Canberra.  In Rachel’s Farm, director and actress Rachel Ward, who owns a farm in NSW with her husband Bryan Brown, journeys from ecological despair to finding hope in the soil beneath her feet through regenerative agriculture.
Dont forget to check out the NENA website and the SEE-Change website for lots of good stuff!
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Monthly Meetups:

Whether you want to find out more, make connections, talk theory, find the others, or get stuck in to actually building the environmental and social solutions we so desperately need, the monthly NENA / CoCanberra meetups are for you!

The meetups are not boring organising meetings, instead we have a talk or panel followed by QnA, or some other event! We begin at 7pm, and finish by 9pm, usally 8.30pm. Everyone is welcome to join us.

We meet on the last Monday of every month at 7pm, usually at SEE-Change office, Frencham Place in Downer. We set up a zoom link at the same time, so people can attend either in person or online.

Join our mailing list by emailing Scotty on the above email to find out what is coming up.

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Volunteering opportunities are always open!

NENA Canberra Region / CoCanberra projects include:

Current projects:

  • The NENA national conference for 2023 will be held in Canberra, in November. Please contact us if you are in the region and want to help out.
  • Check out The CoCanberra website to find out where we are coming from, and moving towards!
  • The Soil City Co-operative Farms is our most active current project, building a network of farmers, landholders, other food sector workers, end customers and allied organisations to produce as much local food as possible for the Canberra region.
  • NENA Canberra / CoCanberra runs a weekly radio show Behind the Lines (BTL) on Community Radio 2XX, exercising the best parts of our collective imagination by talking in depth with folks who are trying to make the world a better place.
  • BTL flows into the Align in the Sound (AIS) podcast, where you can also find recordings from previous NENA conferences, among many other audio delights!
  • The NENA Podcast is working with the BTL and AIS teams. Remote volunteer editing work is available for all of these projects (and sorely needed to meet the potential of NENA Radio!). Training is included. Align in the Sound can be found on all podcast apps.
  • The PrePower renewable energy co-op system is a project in progress, needing some new energy to move further forwards.

Feel welcome to volunteer for any of these projects, or help coordinate our monthly meetups!

Future projects (subject to active interest and volunteer energy) include:

  • A Combined Trades Construction and Maintenance Co-op
  • Community Owned, renewable powered electric vehicle charging and car sharing network
  • Aged care and disability care Co-op – with possible help from The Co-operative Life
  • Co-operative schooling based on the Canberra based School Without Walls model

Past Events

2022

  • December 2022 – No Meetup
  • November 2022 – No Meetup
  • September 2021 – Event: Inaugural Soil City Co-op Farms Picnic Day at Brooks Valley Farm
  • August 2022 - Case Study: Campfire Co-op - the art of hosting and harvesting conversations that matter
  • July 2022 – Case Study: Soil City Cooperative Farms
  • June 2022 - Outsourced! We joined in on Morag Gambles Permaculture Masterclass on Activating your local food community.
  • May 2022 - Guest speaker: A conversation with Mark Spain
  • April 2022 - Thinking together: New coop planning event
  • March 2022 - Thinking together: Reflections on inspiring things in the last 12 months
  • February 2022 - Case Study: Acres and Acres Coop - Joshua Collings
  • January 2022 - Case Study: Green Connect - Kylie Flament

2021

  • December 2021 -  Party time!
  • November 2021 – Outsourced! We joined in on an Earthworker Co-op / Solidarity Hall organised webinar on Jose Maria Arizmendiarrietta - founder of the giant Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque country of northern Spain
  • October 2021 - Case Study: Virtual tour of NSW TAFE’s Thurgoona teaching farm at Albury with Head teacher Rob Fenton
  • September 2021 - Case Study: Resource Work Co-op worker owned tip shop and more in Hobart– Recording here
  • August 2021 - Thinking together: The Co-op Federation - Sam Byrne and Richard O'Leary – Recording here
  • July 2021 - Case Study: Blue Tongue Co-op and C-Mac industries – Recording here
  • June 2021 - Case Study: CoCo Cobargo - farming co-ownership – Recording here
  • May 2021 - Case Study: Food 2 Soil - food waste to fertiliser
  • April 2021 – Thinking together: Prosocial with Paul Atkins
  • March 2021 - Case Study: Food next Door Co-op in Mildura
  • February 2021 – Thinking together: NENA Can / CoCanberra media projects
  • January 2021 -  Case Study: Earthworker Co-op - Katherine Cunningham

2020

  • December 2020 – Party time!
  • November 2020 – Guest speakers: Exploring partnerships – SEE-Change and NENA
  • October 2020 - Thinking together: NENA's Civil Society Strategy for a New Economy: climate co-ops
  • September 2020 - Thinking together: Working with Government - local Government
  • August 2020 - Thinking together: climate co-ops
  • July 2020 - Community Development: Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) “5Hs method” online experiment
  • June 2020 - Guest speaker: Matt Slater - Mutual Credit Systems – Recording here
  • May 2020 - Thinking Together:  NENA's Civil Society Strategy for a New Economy: Strategy development - Mental health: creating a holistic view
  • April 2020 - Thinking Together:  NENA's Civil Society Strategy for a New Economy: Brainstorm - gathering input from the Canberra Regional Hub
  • March 2020 - Thinking Together: Going Local - the benefits, challenges and strategies - Panel and Q and A
  • Feb 2020 - Thinking Together: Presentation of the intentions of, and main components of CoCanberra’s proposed Soil City Co-operative Farms
  • Jan 2020 - Community Development: Workshop on two Community Development tools, Community Asset Mapping and Puzzle Problem Speed Dating.

2019