Climate 200, the fundraising giant that bankrolled the teal independent wave at the last election, has thrown its support behind independent campaigns in nine more Coalition-held seats.
After months of speculation, the group said it would support independent campaigns in the Queensland electorates of McPherson, Moncrief, Fisher and Fairfax as well as the New South Wales electorates Cowper and Bradfield, and Casey, Monash and Wannon in Victoria.
Each of the selected campaigns met Climate 200’s initial criteria for support, which includes support for climate action and restoring integrity in politics. The candidates will receive grants of up to $50,000 to help them further their campaigns.
Despite speculation a community independent campaign would target Peter Dutton’s electorate of Dickson, it was not among the initial rounds of funding announced by Climate 200. But the group is still considering applications and is expected to make more announcements soon.
At the last election the independent candidate Nicolette Boele helped turn Paul Fletcher’s seat of Bradfield into a marginal electorate.
It’s seen as a strong chance for the independent movement at the coming election, especially after a draft redistribution moved North Sydney voters, who went independent in 2022, into Bradfield’s boundaries. While Boele has been campaigning in the seat, it is understood that the North Sydney independent MP, Kylea Tink, is considering her options. The Australian Electoral Commission has recommended that her electorate be abolished.
The Gold Coast seat of McPherson, where the sitting Liberal MP Karen Andrews has announced her retirement, is also considered ripe for an independent campaign. Community groups in the Sunshine Coast seats of Fisher and Fairfax, where local Liberal members are vocal supporters of the Coalition’s nuclear gambit, are also considered winnable. The long-term Monash MP, Russell Broadbent, quit the Liberal party after losing pre-selection for the coming election.
Climate 200’s executive director, Byron Fay, said the group had raised more than $1m in the last two months, from more than 1,300 donors in 146 electorates who contributed to its community accelerator fund, which aims to support new grassroots independent campaigns.
The group aims to support 30 campaigns at the coming election, including the 11 independents it backed at the last election.
“There is no doubt Peter Dutton’s re-ignition of the climate wars has re-energised support for community independents.” Fay said. “Last weekend, we saw a 20-fold bump in donations and the pace hasn’t let up.”
Fay and Climate 200’s founder, Simon Holmes à Court, have been travelling across the country meeting and speaking with community groups looking to establish their own independent member campaigns.
“There are new groups active in every single state and territory,” Fay said.
“The dissatisfaction with the major party duopoly is palpable. We see it in the declining primary vote of Labor and the Coalition, both nationally and in the seats where community independent groups are active.
“Voters are yearning for a different way of doing politics, and the community independent model it is.”
In 2022 independent candidates backed by Climate 200 donations won six electorates previously held by Liberal MPs. Climate 200 does not start the campaigns – instead, community-driven campaigns which align with the fundraising groups’ values and who which prove a pathway to victory can apply to receive support, either financially, or with strategic advice.
At the last election the so-called “teal independent” campaigns, named for their green views on climate in traditional blue Liberal seats, were successful in North Sydney, Wentworth, Goldstein, Kooyong, Curtin and Mackellar. Four existing independents were re-elected and David Pocock was elected as an independent senator for the Australian Capital Territory. All up, Climate 200 supported 23 independent campaigns and were successful in 11.
Labor helped those campaigns along by running ‘dead’ in the seats, a strategy where a candidate is chosen but runs a quiet campaign. Labor has not yet finalised its own campaign plans for the next election.
