They met as political opponents, a Greens councillor and a National Party candidate. Now Ballina Shire Cr Kiri Dicker and Joshua Booyens are pulling up chairs for strangers across the Northern Rivers, betting a shared meal can bridge the divides pulling communities apart.
The pair co-founded The Common Table to fight growing political polarisation and social fragmentation.
Their first dinner, held at the Saltbush Bar & Grill in Ballina in October, was a hit. The second is set for Wednesday, 25 November, at Jekyll and Hyde in Lennox Head.
The idea is simple. People from different backgrounds share a meal, guided by conversation cards designed to spark genuine, thoughtful talk. The cards start gently to build rapport and trust, then finish with tougher prompts.
“I found it very sociable and nice to meet different people. And the conversation was good,” said Ballina retiree Greg Wilson.
Mr Wilson first heard about the dinners through Orange Sky, the charity he volunteers for. Its mobile vans wash and dry clothes for homeless people and those without access to facilities.
He already has his ticket for the next dinner.
“I found it very interesting and stimulating,” Mr Wilson said.
“I liked the idea of having a bit of a theme and having people think about different things and to get different people’s points of view.”
The dinners are still in the testing phase, and feedback is shaping what works.
“The feedback from the first dinner showed that people are seeking meaningful connections,” said Cr Kiri Dicker.
The numbers back her up. The Ending Loneliness Together State of the Nation Report, released in July, found 19 per cent of Australians, nearly one in five, experience both loneliness and social isolation.
More than 51 per cent of people living in Australia experience some form of social disconnection, whether loneliness, social isolation, or both.
The report found that spending one to three hours a week with friends, chatting with neighbours, attending community events, or volunteering dramatically reduces the risk of social disconnection.
“It’s such a pervasive problem, and the solution is right in front of our face. This is the antidote: bringing people together,” Cr Dicker said.
But it only works if the room is truly mixed.
“We know that getting a diverse group of people together is critical to what we want to achieve,” Cr Dicker said. “Otherwise it just wouldn’t work.”
That raises a tricky question: what about people who can’t afford a seat?
“We have a financially self-sustaining revenue-based model – we need to be able to charge, but we understand that not everyone can afford it and understand that there are voices that need to be in the room that can’t afford to be there,” Cr Dicker said.
The answer is a “pay it forward” ticket, which anyone buying a ticket can add at checkout.
“The pay it forward tickets enable people to attend for free, and those tickets are paid for by people who really like our concept and think that it is important,” Cr Dicker said.
The free tickets are handed out with the help of Joel Orchard at the Wardell Community Centre.
“Using a community partner, Wardell Community Centre, means people don’t have to self-identify as needing a free ticket,” Cr Dicker said.
“Joel at the centre identifies people who he thinks need to be there and offers them a ticket.”
The co-founders are living proof the concept works. Despite standing on opposite sides of politics, they became firm friends.
“We wanted to bring in different people with different perspectives and walks of life to practise disagreement in a safe space for people to connect and be curious,” said Joshua Booyens.
“Politics stays at the door,” Mr Booyens said.
“We understand our profiles in the community, and we want to create a space that doesn’t bring that into the room.”
The dinners are just the beginning. The pair plan to grow the idea well beyond the Northern Rivers.
“5% of people in Australia are part of a book club; what if there were conversation clubs that value diversity and respect differing opinions where you could learn and practise conversation with a group of different people,” Cr Dicker said.
“We are really passionate about developing the format and the content, curating the discussions, and we want to empower people to start similar things in their own communities.”
For now, they are testing the waters.
“We are starting from scratch, so we are just gauging demand,” Mr Booyens said.
“The challenge we’ve got is that we want to bring this to regional communities in particular, though there has been interest from metro areas, and we want these dinners to be happening every week across Australia.”
Tickets for the Lennox Head dinner, including pay it forward tickets, are available through The Common Table’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thecommontableau
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