Rita Panahi: Public deserves to know Holmes a Court’s intentions

Given his role in the upcoming election, the public deserves to know if Simon Holmes a Court stands to benefit financially from any change in government policy.

One can argue Simon Holmes a Court’s greatest achievement was being born into a fabulously wealthy family and inheriting more money than any person would reasonably need in one lifetime.

The first-born son of Robert Holmes a Court, who was referred to as Australia’s first billionaire, may use his considerable wealth to influence an election by supporting more than a dozen candidates, all with the singular aim of unseating Liberal members of parliament.

That is his right under our parliamentary system but wouldn’t it be admirable if the man who bleats about transparency was himself transparent about the Climate 200 group.

Every seat being challenged is a Liberal seat but Holmes a Court claims his largesse and anti-Liberal bias will not stop the so-called “independent” candidates from striking an alliance with the Coalition should they find themselves in a hung parliament.

But the Climate 200 founder is not trying to unseat any Labor MPs, not even those who are pro-coal; he is hell-bent on turfing out the Scott Morrison government, which he rails against on his personal Twitter page and who he attacked during his speech at the National Press Club last week.

Holmes a Court claims his anti-Liberal bias will not stop the so-called ‘independent’ candidates from striking an alliance with the Coalition. Picture: Aaron Francis

Let’s not pretend the “independent” candidates are anything other than Leftists somewhere between the Greens and Labor on the ideological spectrum.

They’re about as centrist as I am blonde.

If you’re on Facebook you’ve likely had the group’s paid social media posts soiling your feed and every single paid ad that’s popped into my timeline has been fervently anti-Coalition, and most had nothing to do with environmental issues.

Despite the Facebook spend-a-thon, the Climate 200 account has fewer than 2000 likes.

That’s pitifully low.

By comparison, Jacinta Price has more than 149,000 followers, Liberal Democrat MP David Limbrick has 37,000 and even I have 68,000 and I’ve never paid for an ad and spend the bulk of my social media time on Instagram and the cesspit that is Twitter.

But back to Climate 200 and its uniformly Leftist “independent” candidates.

It’s hard not to conclude that the group and its candidates are uninterested in working class Australians, they don’t care about voters who may bristle at policies that will see their electricity prices soar.

They are not running in seats in the outer suburbs where median house prices are below the skyrocketing Melbourne and Sydney averages.

Their focus is primarily on affluent inner city and beachside suburbs held by the Liberals but with a privileged demographic that is increasingly supporting Leftist candidates and causes.

The candidates, along with their potential voters, tend to be the affluent elite who can afford electric cars and soaring energy prices.

The type who bleat about the environment but don’t walk the talk by curtailing their own lifestyles like axing overseas holidays and large homes.

It remains to be seen whether Climate 200 plays a pivotal role in the upcoming election and helps install a Leftist Labor government with radical emission targets that will see a significant surge in renewable expenditure.

It is imperative that the electorate is fully aware of what investments Holmes a Court has in renewables and if he stands to benefit financially from any change in government policy, particularly any change that would see greater taxpayer funds devoted to the sector.