Who would the Climate 200 independents support in the event of a hung parliament? It is a puzzling question made even more complicated in that we know little about the ideology of that party.
My apologies, what I meant to say is that we know little about the ideology of this special interest group and those who seek its endorsement. As group founder, convener, and multi-millionaire Simon Holmes á Court repeatedly stressed at the National Press Club last week, this entity is not a party, nor does it choose candidates. Motivated entirely by altruistic reasons, it does not attempt to influence in any way the independents who seek a share of its (checks notes) $7 million largesse.
It bestows financial windfalls only on those who share its fervour for saving the planet, as well as legislating for a federal anti-corruption commission and implementing gender equality. As Holmes á Court told the Sydney Morning Herald just last year “All of the community groups we’re speaking with are after genuinely local, independent representation, and that means beating Labor, the Coalition and the Greens”. So far, however, the independents concerned are targeting only Coalition-held seats, but that is purely coincidental.
The makeup of the group’s advisory council gives us little insight into its political leanings. There is former Democrats leader Meg Lees, who in her defence was one of the few rational people in that proto-loony party. It also comprises former independents Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, who pledged loyalty to the Gillard government during the chaotic period of 2010-13 and later dogged it rather than answer to their conservative constituencies.
Next, there is Julia Banks, who defected from the Liberals in 2018 and unsuccessfully ran as an independent the following year. In the period since she has devoted her life to amplifying her self-pity. Speaking of that, I see Mr Happy himself, John Hewson, also features. As you will remember, the perpetually embittered former Liberal leader endorsed Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young at the last election.
Also on the council is Dr Kerryn Phelps, the former independent whose legacy was the Medivac bill, that legislation which allowed doctors to circumvent immigration officials and bring asylum seekers to Australia for treatment in the name of compassion. For example, a violent Iranian man who had botched his DIY penis enlargement operation by injecting himself with palm oil. The director of the council is Damien Hodgkinson, who provides accounting services for the group as well as preparing compliance reports for the Australian Electoral Commission. More on him later.
So what of the group’s favoured independents, past and present? Greens leader Adam Bandt received financial assistance in 2019, as did former Senate candidate and Gosford Anglican Church rector Rod Bower. As I wrote last year, he sang hosannas to honour Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews for his handling of Covid while proclaiming that NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet would “kill us all”.
This year the group is backing former ABC journalist Zoe Daniel, who lists her pronouns in her Twitter profile. It also supports Allegra Spender, who is running against Wentworth MP Dave Sharma. As the Daily Telegraph reported this week, her key backers and co-leaders of Wentworth Independents, Daniel and Lyndell Droga, donated $20,000 to the far-left activist organisation GetUp in the 2018-19 election cycle.
As for Holmes á Court, his social media profile reveals nothing about his political inclinations. He has labelled this newspaper “the daily fascist” and called for action to “lance the murdoch boil”. Last month he referred disparagingly to Liberal senators Jane Hume and Sarah Henderson as “crumb maidens,” a sexist term used to denigrate female Coalition politicians (As Holmes á Court would himself tell you, Climate 200 is all for protecting and showing respect for women). Lastly, he refers to Australia’s offshore detention centre as “concentration camps”.
predictably, @LiberalAus henchmen sending their #CrumbMaidens after me.
— 💧simon holmes à court (@simonahac) January 28, 2022
last election they set @SenatorHume🷠on to me, this election it's @SenSHenderson.
here's her incoherent argument that @climate200 should bail out the pensioner who @JoshFrydenberg is trying to bankrupt: 🤷â€â™‚ï¸ https://t.co/K49MtpbAO8
Don’t keep us in suspense, Simon. Please tell us who your independents will support to form minority government – Labor or the Greens?
But as Holmes á Court said last week, he is “not the leader of this movement” but “just one small part”. His opinion has no bearing on what the independents decide later, he insisted. If so, why did he equivocate when asked which of the major parties had better policies on climate change, an anti-corruption commission, and protection of women?
He also said at that forum that Climate 200’s financial support for independents comes with “no strings attached”. That is remarkably trusting of him given his organisation is handing out millions to them. “Our values are simple, not a policy platform, deliberately non-specific,” he explained.
Oh really? On the group’s website it refers to the organisation conducting “a thorough vetting process” of independents “to ensure there’s shared values”. Much like the major parties do, I believe. “We don’t have any agreement at all with the candidates, they are strictly independent,” Holmes á Court said. By this stage, my mind had turned to the legendary British comedy trio The Goodies and I found myself singing “String, string, string, string / Everybody loves string”.
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald last year, Holmes á Court declared that Climate 200 would “abide by the rules of the Australian Electoral Commission assiduously, and list all those who contribute above the disclosure limit”.
Unlike Warringah independent Zali Steggall, whose office failed to properly disclose to the AEC a $100,000 donation comprising eight ‘separate’ donations of $12,500 from the members of a family trust. But as an AEC audit later revealed, it was received in the one cheque, hence exceeding the $13,800 threshold for reporting donations.
Despite this being a blatant case of donation splitting, Holmes á Court last week rejected the suggestion that Steggall had failed to manage this situation properly. As for Hodgkinson, who was Steggall’s financial controller at the time and is now employed by Climate 200, Holmes á Court could not see any issue. “He’s an excellent controller,” he said.
The next day the Sydney Morning Herald revealed Hodgkinson had in 2019 failed to disclose a $25,000 donation from Alex Turnbull, the son of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, in a separate campaign designed to oust Health Minister Greg Hunt from the seat of Flinders. Perhaps Holmes á Court was right in the sense that his group’s values are indeed, in his words, “deliberately non-specific”.
Lastly, did you too wonder about the group’s so-called “science-based climate policy”? Holmes á Court was either unwilling or unable to articulate what that meant. “Yeah I’m not sure – I’m not sure this is the forum for it, because I don’t need to signal to candidates,” he said, when asked to define the phrase.
Only minutes before, he piously declared to the press gallery that the independents would, unlike candidates from the mainstream parties, give “considered, honest answers”.
He might like to try doing the same. It reinforces the impression Climate 200 is but a Clayton’s party, a vanity project for an heir to a fortune built on coal, oil, and gas. For all his attempts to distinguish himself from the stereotypical politician, Holmes á Court very much sounds like one.
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