A party of independents is quite the oxymoron. But in the ACT, it might be the only way they can get into the Legislative Assembly.
It's something Fiona Carrick knows all too well. She ran as an independent in the 2020 territory election.
While she received the fourth highest primary vote in Murrumbidgee - 7 per cent - she fell behind on preferences and missed out on a chance to be elected.
This election she is running for the Fiona Carrick Independent party and has two support candidates: Marea Fatseas and Bruce Paine. Both have previously run as ungrouped independents.
"You need preference flows to get you up to a quota and I didn't get the preference flows because I was in the ungrouped right hand column of the ballot. So this time to try and compete with the major parties, to have a chance I've got running mates," Ms Carrick said.
Ms Carrick is running a well-oiled campaign with more than 70 volunteers. They can often be seen around the Murrumbidgee electorate dressed in bright orange.
"We have got as many as we can in orange T-shirts, asking them to go out and be visible," she said.
Fiona Carrick Independent party is one of three groups contesting the ACT election under the umbrella of being independent.
The most prominent group is Independents for Canberra, which is running candidates in every electorate.
Organising 20 different independent candidates who are allow to have their own views could be seen a recipe for disaster but the group's leader said the group has actually found a way to collaborate.
Independents for Canberra leader, and Kurrajong candidate, Thomas Emerson said while any candidate is free to have their own views on particular topics they would first try to seek a consensus on an issue or policy.
"We've spent the past six to nine months building collaborative relationships which puts us in a good place for getting in there," he said.
"It gives me a lot of confidence and hopefully gives the electorate a lot of confidence that independents won't just be a chaotic force. So there's this kind of constant stress testing of going back and forth between potential individual positions and shared positions."
The other group is Strong Independents. The two-person party of Peter Strong and Ann Bray is running in Kurrajong.
"We have conversations with people confused about Independents for Canberra and us and I just say 'what you've got with us is we're only in one seat. We're two independents, we're experienced, we know about legislation'," Mr Strong said.
How the groups are working together
Independents have previously been elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly but none have been voted in since 1998.
Minor party candidates, excluding the Greens, have taken seats before but not since 2001.
Changes to the ACT electoral act in 2008 made it harder for independents to be elected. Previously they could be grouped on the ballot paper, but under the changes any non-party candidates appear on the last column on ACT ballot papers.
While parties are subjected to a random number generator to determine the order of the ballot paper all ungrouped candidates are not part of this.
Registering as an "independent" political party is one way to get around this. However, it is only the first step as independent candidates will need to rely on preferences.
When the independents movement started towards the end of last year, candidates had conversations about whether to work together.
Ms Carrick said she had discussions with Mr Emerson and contemplated whether to join Independents for Canberra. She ultimately decided not to.
"We went to some of the [Independents for Canberra] functions for the first three or four months of the year trying to decide whether we would go with them or on our own ... in the end we decided that we wanted to remain independent our way and not be part of a big party of independents. We wanted to authorise our own material and be our own spokespeople," she said.
Ms Carrick is doing a preference deal with Independents for Canberra but they are running five candidates in Murrumbidgee, which could hamper her chances.
Ms Carrick's how-to-vote cards say to number her party candidates from 1 to 3 and then number candidates from Independents for Canberra candidates from 4 to 6.
But voters are only required to place a number against five candidates and there is a fear they could vote 1 to 5 for Independents for Canberra and stop there.
Across the electorates Independents for Canberra are encouraging people to vote for their candidates first and then other credible independents.
"What we are saying to people is to vote for all of the Independent for Canberra candidates first and then continue voting for credible independents so we can get an independent crossbench," Mr Emerson said.
Mr Strong and Ms Bray also considered Independents for Canberra but decided to run alone. Ms Bray said there had been discussions with the other independent parties and they are encouraging voters to preference other independents.
However, Strong Independents have been working with Ms Carrick and they have even been handing out each other's how-to-vote pamphlets at the Manuka early voting centre. The pre-polling station is used by many voters both in Kurrajong and Murrumbidgee.
"We've met a few times and just had policy discussions," Ms Bray said.
Ms Bray was initially going to run as a candidate in Murrumbidgee but said she moved to Kurrajong to pave the way for Ms Carrick.
Policies
The groups' policies, broadly speaking, include a number of similarities. Housing and transparency are positioned as big issues for the three.
The three groups say all of their candidates support abortion access and voluntary assisted dying. Labor has tried to suggest these would be at risk if independents held the balance of power and sided with the Liberals.
Ms Carrick has five policy areas she is most focused on. These are: housing, frontline services, planning and local issues, transparency and balancing the budget.
One of the first motions she would push for if elected would be for the government to commit to undertaking a study on why Canberra's housing is so expensive.
Strong Independents have a number of democracy-focused policies. They want to bring in citizen-initiated referendums, limited terms for members of the Legislative Assembly and to require the government to publish key performance indicators, such as the public housing wait list, in monthly newsletters.
Independents for Canberra are positioning its Future Generations Act as a key policy. It would legislate a requirement for decision-makers to prioritise the wellbeing of current and future generations.
The group's policies include $40,000 retention payments for junior doctors to train as general practitioners in Canberra, an independent inquiry into the justice system and reducing the waiting times for public housing.
No independents party has given a full commitment to which party it would support if it held the balance of power. Mr Strong has previously told The Canberra Times it would be odd to support the continuation of a Labor-led government.
But Strong Independents say their support would ultimately go to the party which committed to their policies.
Ms Carrick would consider the make-up of the Assembly and would base any decision on what would align best with her policy position. She would also base the decision on the party which would deliver the best outcomes for Murrumbidgee.
She would not support any party looking to reverse abortion access, LGBTQIA+ rights, voluntary assisted dying or pill testing.
Independents for Canberra has ruled out forming a coalition government with any party if enough of its candidates are elected. But the party has issued a list of expectations it will want a government to adhere to if its candidates hold the balance of power.
This includes many of its policies, including that the Chief Minister and Treasurer cannot be held by the same person.
While there are similarities, there is a very key difference between the three groups and that is their campaigning colours.
Both Independents for Canberra (maroon) and Fiona Carrick Independent (orange) said they chose their respective colours because they were available.
However, Strong Independents, who have gone with teal, are unapologetic about adopting the colour associated with the federal movement.
"Absolutely because that's effectively where we sit. At the end of the day we are socially progressive but very responsible. We want to do evidence-based decisions," Ms Bray said.
