Independents are regarded as the native spirit of democracy; a bottomless well of rectitude sent from the land that politics forgot to keep the bastards honest. Australia is a successful democratic state by international standards but, here and there, the democratic tendency is corrupted. Political corruption is an opportunity for independents and minority parties who extrapolate the general rule from the exception that mainstream politics is riven with evils only they can purge. The romantic puritan instinct can be tempered by the routines and daily grind of governing, but independents are destined to be the kidults of parliament. The major parties run the show.
The Liberal Party is concerned about a raft of political aspirants who describe themselves as independents while sharing the same campaign agenda and funding sources. Climate 200 Pty Ltd is a cashed-up green group founded by the son of Robert Holmes a Court, Australia’s first billionaire. Simon Holmes a Court inherited wealth from his late father, who made millions from media, mining and resources interests. He has described the group as a “non-partisan, non-profit project”.Its aim is to assist political candidates running on climate change and integrity, according to the ABC. He wants to see coal and gas phased out. Another notable funder of Climate 200 in 2019 was billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, whose net worth Forbes estimated to be $22.9bn.
For the 2019 election campaign, Climate 200 donated about $500,000 to promote a dozen climate-centric independents. Cannon-Brooks donated $50,000 while Homes a Court reportedly gave half that amount.
A considerably larger sum of $190,000 was donated by the Climate Outcomes Foundation, an organisation registered to hedge fund manager Mitchell Hopwood. Despite the cash and confidence behind the campaign, most of the candidates failed. Climate 200 is back again and this time it is funding independents, some of whom are also part of the Voices groups that are commonly promoted as grassroots. Climate 200 has substantially increased its funding to $6m from 6500 donors. In political terms, its candidates look like a coalition party with shared agendas on climate and gender as well as some common funding sources. However, they are marketed as anti-politics.
In The Sydney Morning Herald, Holmes a Court emphasised their distinction: “They are accountable to their communities, not beholden to parties or political ambition.” It is difficult to credit the idea that a person who runs for political office and seeks influence is not driven by ambition. And we should be honest about it. When Troy Bramston asked Treasurer Josh Frydenberg about his aspirations for the top job, he did not feign modesty: “Liberal leadership would be an enormous privilege … but I’m not about to push it and I’m not in a hurry … You asked me a straight-up question and I gave you a straight-up answer: I’ve never sought to hide my ambitions.”
It is especially problematic for politicians to be marketed as modest in their ambitions when they are women. The last thing girls need as role models is women who are passive in expressing their desire for power. If you are running for political office, own your political ambition and be honest about it.
If a dozen candidates were bankrolled by oil barons, would they be viewed as independent? It is unlikely. However, being funded by green barons seems to dull public scrutiny.
Major parties welcome the benevolence of mega-donors and special interests are an ongoing problem for democracies. But few politicians claim to be completely independent of special interests and no major party MP would claim to be non-partisan except on occasional matters of policy or legislation. The independents are supposed to be non-partisan. Yet Climate 200 candidates are taking preferences from Labor and the Greens to attack Liberal-held seats. They seem partisan, political and invested in the ambitions of their investors.
The Coalition is under attack from centre-left to soft-right independents and right-leaning minor parties such as billionaire Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party. On Twitter, the left and right are apparently united in their goal to destabilise the government by demeaning Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Veer left for a tour of the independents whipping the government because it won’t bankrupt Australia to subsidise green capitalists’ greed. Look right to see minority parties inflamed by the idea they should vaccinate against Covid and isolate if infectious to prevent transmission amid a global pandemic.
If Coalition MPs are hankering for the opposition benches, they should continue to let the PM sustain fire while they fan the flames of factional war. If they want a different ending, they had better start writing one.
Two of the Liberals targeted by left-leaning independents are Frydenberg, who represents the Melbourne seat of Kooyong, and member for the Sydney seat of Wentworth, Dave Sharma. In The Australian, Sharma argued his case, shadowboxing against aspiring politician Allegra Spender, who wants a 2030 emissions reduction target of 50 per cent or above. Speaking to Nine media, Spender said she had nothing personal against Sharma before claiming that he had failed his electorate and questioning his honesty: “He says he is a moderate, but he votes with Barnaby Joyce.”
Independent Monique Ryan is aiming to unseat Frydenberg in Kooyong. Holmes a Court celebrated her campaign on Twitter with a photo of blue-painted fingernails and she promoted blue frosted cupcakes, calling them “democracy cupcakes”. Has female political representation really come to this?
The Canberra bubble could soon be bursting with independents. Millionaire minions and billion-dollar babies are vying to secure their place in history as rebels with a virtuous cause. Before casting your vote, ask your local candidate how much their virtue will cost taxpayers and request a copy of their economic plan to reduce our national debt.
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