Standing up to climate spoilers
Come election time it is reasonable that voters have concerns about economic and job security that are a world away from independent candidates who are being bankrolled to stand in some of the nation’s blue-ribbon seats.
The Morrison government is being called to defend its traditional heartland from breakaway candidates funded by single-issue interest groups focused on renewable energy. The sun-kissed, moneyed electorates of Sydney’s eastern suburbs and northern beaches have become the political plaything of the millionaire class, some of whom have a well-publicised axe to grind with the Liberals.
Other seats held by prominent ministers, including Energy Minister Angus Taylor and Josh Frydenberg, are being eyed in a co-ordinated push funded by donations from the nouveau riche and descendants of the landed gentry.
Scott Morrison is on the offensive, warning voters tempted by independents it will ultimately be a choice between the Liberals and the Nationals and Labor and the Greens.
“At the end of the day, someone’s going to be chairing cabinet and that’s going to be me or Anthony Albanese,” the Prime Minister said.
“Someone’s going to be chairing the national security committee of cabinet and making decisions about keeping Australians safe in our region against some of the greatest threats we’ve seen since before the Second World war.” This was “as true in the eastern suburbs seat of Wentworth as anywhere else in the country”.
Wentworth is notable. After being surrendered by Malcolm Turnbull when he was deposed as prime minister, it was lost to independent Kerryn Phelps before being recovered by sitting Liberal Dave Sharma.
The seat is being targeted by a pro-renewables group backing independent Allegra Spender, daughter of fashion designer Carla Zampatti. Ms Spender’s platform is to enact climate change legislation and support an evidence-based transition to zero emissions. She wants government to cut emissions by at least 50 per cent by 2030, and supports electric vehicles and stronger emissions standards.
The Wentworth independent campaign in 2018 became a template for the climate change-led campaign that unseated former prime minister Tony Abbott in Warringah in 2019. He was replaced by climate-focused candidate Zali Steggall.
Federal ministers are rallying around former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian in a bid to encourage her to run against Ms Steggall at the next election. Mr Morrison said Ms Berejiklian would be “very welcome” as a federal Liberal MP.
The independents’ push against the Coalition mirrors the threat posed by the Greens to Labor in inner cities. Independent candidates do not consider themselves to be a political party but they share the patronage of a group of donors who will exert influence should the independents secure the balance of power. Disclosures after the 2019 election showed such candidates were bankrolled by a company backed by renewable energy activists Mike Cannon-Brookes, Simon Holmes a Court and the Climate Outcomes Foundation, through a Climate 200 fund. About $450,000 was channelled to 12 independents including Dr Phelps, Helen Haines, Anthony Pesec, Gary Kent, Oliver Yates, Rob Oakeshott and Julia Banks.
Australian Electoral Commission returns show Alex Turnbull, Malcolm Turnbull’s son, made two donations worth $20,000 to Mr Pesec’s Senate campaign. The independent campaigns of Ms Steggall, Dr Haines, who replaced Cathy McGowan in Indi, and Mr Yates, who failed to unseat the federal Treasurer in Kooyong, raised almost $2m from 2641 donors. According to disclosure documents, the biggest contributors were Mr Cannon-Brookes ($50,000), Mr Holmes a Court ($25,000) and the Climate Outcomes Foundation ($195,000).
Mr Holmes a Court has relaunched the Climate 200 fund to bankroll independents for next year’s poll with an even bigger cheque book. He says he established Climate 200 after being ejected from Mr Frydenberg’s Kooyong 200 Club fundraising group when he wrote a column for The Guardian in early 2018, which included a line criticising the Treasurer for trying to keep NSW’s Liddell power station open.
As well as Ms Spender, the group is supporting candidates in North Sydney against Liberal moderate Trent Zimmerman and Mackellar against Liberal Jason Falinski, and considering candidates for Hume, held by Mr Taylor; Goldstein, held by Tim Wilson; Flinders, being vacated by Greg Hunt; and Mr Frydenberg’s seat, Kooyong.
The single-issue independents’ push represents a big danger for the Morrison government as well as for voters less fortunate than the uber rich with the means to indulge their political vendettas and corporate fancies.