The ACT's primordial independent movement seems so far to be lacking a critical ingredient: well-known independent candidates.
Ever since Clare Carnell's name was not on the list of nominations for Liberal preselection last week, there has been renewed speculation on what the former chief minister's daughter was up to.
The announcement she is involved in establishing a party to run independents in this year's election rather than running herself will clear up that chatter.
But then who is going to run? There's not a lot of time to really develop high-profile candidates before the poll.
Yes, Tom Emerson - the son of a former federal Labor minister - has put his hand up. He's also an adviser to David Pocock, the ACT's independent senator.
Is that really enough name recognition for the battle of Hare-Clark politics?
There is a reason the territory has such a storied history of former footballers taking up political life. Lots of voters know who they are.
The independents' pitch is also not as well-defined in the ACT as even Senator Pocock's was when he toppled the Canberra Liberals' Zed Seselja in 2022.
On the issues that drove independents' success federally in 2022, the ACT is in a different state. Climate change action is well advanced. An integrity commission has started turning over stones.
There is no doubt a constituency of people in Canberra want something different after the October election.
But there is not a lot of evidence they want something more conservative.
The current government's progressive positions are not the source of any great public animosity. Rather, it's the perception of fatigue, latent corrupt inclinations and cack-handedness.
A smattering of independent announcements about independents does not suggest a finely tuned, targeted political campaign with deep community backing.
Without that, this project is over before it even really starts.
