We said we were starting something. Here it is.
A few weeks ago we marked ten years of The Equality Project. We looked back at what we built together, from a living room in 2016 to more than 7,000 people in rooms around the country.
At the end of that letter, we said we were starting something new.
This is it. We're launching the Centre for Civil Dialogue (CCD), incubated within The Equality Project. And we'd love you in on it from the start.
Here's why it matters.
There's a conversation you're not having. You know the one. With your dad about the thing he posted. With the friend who's drifted somewhere you can't follow. With the colleague whose certainty makes your jaw tighten.
You used to say something. Now you let it slide. Easier that way. Keeps the peace.
But something gets lost in all that keeping quiet. A friendship that went cool. A family that talks about the weather now. A you that bites your tongue so often you've half forgotten what you actually think.
Ten years of bringing people together taught us something. The world doesn't just need better conversations inside our own communities. It needs them across every line of difference that's pulling people apart.
So that's the work now.
How we got here
We didn't start out talking across difference. For a long time our work was about bringing our own community together. A room full of people like them, when those rooms didn't exist anywhere else. That mattered then and it matters now.
But over ten years we noticed something. We were mostly in conversation with people who already agreed with us. The harder work, and the one we've only recently named, is the conversation across the gap, not just inside the circle. That's where CCD begins.
Same belief that started The Equality Project. And like everything we've done, most of the decisions still get made at a kitchen table.
We're not academics watching from a distance. We run the rooms. We've seen people who can't stand each other stay in the conversation anyway. It's not magic. It's a skill. And skills can be taught.
We're starting by listening
We've built a short survey called Can We Talk? It asks what disagreement is actually like for you. Not your politics. Your experience.
When did you last change your mind? Who have you stopped talking to? What would it take to pick the phone back up?
No right answers. We just want to hear it.
Australia isn't broken. We argue about whether it is, which is its own kind of proof. We're frayed, not torn. That's exactly why now. You don't wait for the house to flood to find out where the taps are.
Come in on it
Two things, if you're up for it.
Take the survey. A few minutes, that's all.
Then send it to one person. The one who came to mind while you were reading this. You know who.
And if you want to follow what we build next, join the Founding Network. We're starting this the way we started everything. Small, grassroots, with the people who show up.
We had no idea if anyone would come to that first conference ten years ago. You did. We're hoping you'll show up for this one too.
Can we talk? Let's find out.
