Independent candidate Allegra Spender’s victory in the electorate of Wentworth represented a “massive change in the way progressive politics is run”, according to an experienced political strategist.
The RedBridge Group’s Kos Samaras told Crikey that Wentworth, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, was one of the “Future Shock” electorates: those where the young people in them had grown up in comfortable, middle-class households and expected to have the same lives as adults. But this hadn’t happened and now they were consumed with anxiety about money, climate change and politics.
The country’s richest electorate has a high proportion of educated young people who would struggle to buy property where they lived, he said, adding that this cohort was very motivated to vote against the two major parties. As he explained, these feelings were accentuated during the pandemic, when they had a low tolerance to sit and watch nothing happen.
Samaras has worked in political strategy for decades and was formerly the deputy campaign director of the Labor Party in Victoria.
“So many professional young women told us in our sessions that they can’t have a family until they know about housing — and by the time they get to 30 they are very motivated and angry”, he said, adding that “women were the ones most affected by the pandemic”.
RedBridge did polling for Wentworth, and although Spender said she had seen it, because of rival polling pointing to a Liberal victory, she’d decided to ignore all predictions and campaign as normal.
Speaking to Crikey, the incoming MP said that her first priority would be as a good representative for her constituents on nuts-and-bolts issues: visas, NDIS issues and so on. Because the campaign was community-led, she said, she had a good grip on the types of issues that need action: “There’s an opportunity to build up from the community as well as build down from government.”
Looking at the national agenda, she said “the key focus for me is pushing the government to have policies that drive stronger climate action”, adding that the ALP’s emissions reductions target of 43% by 2030 should be the bare minimum.
“My focus is going to be much more on trying to push on policies like emission standards and vehicles. That should be a no-brainer for the Labor Party. It’s better for health, it’s better for vehicle choice, and there’s no cost to the government, which we need at the moment.”
Spender’s second focus would be on integrity, citing the need for a federal ICAC and political donations reform. Voters had asked her during the campaign about the World Health Organization taking over our health system — these assertions had come from Clive Palmer and pointed to the need to reform laws around political advertising, she said.
“The best time to make those reforms is when we can all remember the campaign we just had before it fades away,” she said.
Another focus would be economics, the former CEO said, pointing to the need for a tax review, increased skilled and unskilled migration to assist businesses to fill jobs, and the need for an innovation agenda, adding that she would work with the crossbench and with both major parties.
Asked if she had a political role model, Spender said she admired NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for the way she expressed “empathy and strength”.
Many female leaders have shown that “you can be strong — and kind and compassionate … these are the opposite of the bulldozer”.
Spender, the daughter of former Liberal MP John Spender, said that her father had given her advice about foreign policy and who to speak to in Canberra. She said she was inspired by the actions of her late mother, Australian fashion icon Carla Zampatti.
“The big thing for mum was about women standing up and being courageous and having a go — she really backed women,” Spender said.
“And she said, ‘I only regret the things I didn’t do.’ She had very few regrets, actually, and she was someone who could get over things. She was really good at going, ‘OK, that didn’t work’, and moving on. And I think that is actually a really important quality in life. But I’m sure particularly in politics because there’ll be all sorts of things where you make mistakes and [where things don’t go your way]. And you’ve got to move on.”
The Liberal Party is rumoured to have spent $1.5 million on the Wentworth campaign, which Spender won on a two-candidate-preferred swing of 6%. Asked how she will stop the Liberals trying to win it back, she said: “If I can represent the values of this community, if I can negotiate, advocate and be a strong voice for this community and get outcomes for them, that’s my best chance of being reelected.
“I’m going to be a socially progressive, fiscally pretty conservative, business-focused and environmentally-focused member. And I think those are the values of this community.”
What the Liberals would do in trying to win the seat back was a matter for them, she said.
“I can only control what I do. I’m doing my best to be a good member, both for Wentworth but also for the country.”
