Election 2022: Cost of climate crusade won’t worry blue-blood greenies
Money is not a problem for a band of well-off professionals running as Climate 200 independents who appear immune from daily economic uncertainties.
When Allegra Spender is not campaigning to win the seat of Wentworth in Sydney’s eastern suburbs as a Climate 200-backed independent, she has another life in another world.
Ms Spender briefly stepped back into that world on Monday.
Seated in the front row of a packed Carriageworks gallery, she took time out to help celebrate her designer sister Bianca’s latest range at Summer & Resort 2022, the opening show of Australian Fashion Week.
Like all “teal” independents supported by Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 campaign group, Ms Spender is passionate about climate change and committed to pursuing tougher carbon emission targets than the major parties if voters elect her.
But the daughter of the late fashion designer Carla Zampatti is also one of a band of well-off professionals running as Climate 200 independents whose living standards might not be as exposed as the voters they hope to represent to the financial costs of their cause.
A number of Climate 200’s candidates are the privileged children of wealthy parents, or high achievers in their own right, who appear immune from daily economic uncertainties such as rising interest rates, inflation or making ends meet on average incomes.
Ms Spender, challenging Liberal MP Dave Sharma in Wentworth, is considered the “teal” independents’ best hope considering his 1.3 per cent margin.
She is also the richest of Climate 200’s leading figures – apart from the group’s founder Mr Holmes a Court, the son of Australia’s first billionaire, Robert Holmes a Court, from whom much of his wealth was inherited through family company Heytesbury.
Ms Spender is co-director of Carla Zampatti Holdings, along with her sister Bianca Spender and their half-brother Alex Schuman. Together, they control fashion labels Carla Zampatti and Bianca Spender, with more than 30 stores and 100 staff.
Ms Spender also owns or co-owns a string of multi-million-dollar properties at Darling Point and Double Bay, apparently mortgage-free.
After attending Ascham School where she was head girl, Ms Spender graduated with a Master of Economics at Cambridge. She worked in executive roles with management consultants McKinsey and the UK Treasury before becoming a volunteer consultant for TechnoServe in Kenya and a “change leader” at London’s King’s College Hospital. She eventually returned home to be managing director of the Carla Zampatta company.
Ms Spender has a strong political pedigree as well – to the point she is often regarded as “Liberal royalty”. Her father, John Spender, was the Liberal MP for North Sydney and an opposition frontbencher before losing his seat to independent Ted Mack in 1990. Her grandfather was Menzies government minister Percy Spender.
Ms Spender’s wealth might dwarf most other “teal” independents, but her high-achieving background matches those of other women business executives, doctors and lawyers campaigning as independents under Climate 200’s banner in Liberal seats.
Climate 200’s next best hope, Kylea Tink, standing in North Sydney against Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman, is a former managing director of Edelman Australia and chief executive of the McGrath Foundation. Sophie Scamps, challenging Liberal MP Jason Falinski in Mackellar, is an Oxford-educated GP from Sydney’s northern beaches and a former athletics record holder.
Georgia Steele, running against ex-Liberal Craig Kelly and his replacement Liberal candidate Jenny Ware in Hughes, is a former corporate lawyer who has worked for firms at home and abroad, and for one of the big banks.
Monique Ryan, trying to unseat Josh Frydenberg in Kooyong, is a pediatric neurologist with a fellowship from Boston’s Lahey clinic, and has worked at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital.
Kate Chaney, challenging Liberal MP Celia Hammond in Curtin, is a lawyer who has worked for Blake Dawson Waldron, Boston Consulting Group, Westralia Airports Corporate and Wesfarmers. Ms Chaney’s father is Wesfarmers chairman Michael Chaney, and former Liberal minister Fred Chaney is her uncle.
Another in the Climate 200 camp with a strong political lineage is Robert Baillieu, Ms Ryan’s volunteers’ manager in Kooyong, and the son of former Victorian Liberal premier Ted Baillieu.
John Wanna, professor emeritus in politics from Australian National University, said the phenomenon of “upper middle class” people embracing green policies started in Europe before reaching Australia.
Professor Wanna said a number of Climate 200’s candidates appeared to come from wealthy, privileged positions, though not all, such as ex-ABC journalist Zoe Daniel, running against Liberal MP Tim Wilson in Goldstein.
“Certainly, some are very privileged, and some are very accomplished professionals who would not have faced any sort of (financial) hardship in their lives,” he said. “Many would have worked hard to get to where they are, including Spender, and I suppose if you look at the electorates they are running in, they would be broadly representative.”
Professor Wanna said it was noticeable that “teal” independents were not running in working class or lower socio-economic electorates, and had decided to focus on a very narrow agenda “staying away from every public policy issue that we are facing apart from climate change”.
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