Election 2022: Independents’ ‘party’ manifesto

The former head of a company that channelled most of the start-up funds to the Climate 200 campaign group proposed setting up a ‘party’ to support dozens of independents.

Climate 200's Simon Holmes a Court. Picture: Josie Hayden

The former head of a company that channelled most of the start-up funds to Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 campaign group proposed setting up a “party” to support dozens of independents as the best way to shake up the political system and press for tougher action on climate change.

Charlie Caruso wrote a detailed manifesto shortly before she was chief executive of the now defunct Climate Outcomes Foundation (COF) which proposed “an independent revolution” based on ­“establishing a political party ­designed to offer independent candidates the support and ­resources they sacrifice for their independence”.

The party model advocated by Ms Caruso appears similar to Climate 200’s model for backing more than 20 independent candidates at this month’s federal election with more than $10m in campaign donations. But Mr Holmes a Court has said repeatedly that Climate 200, which he founded, is “not a party in any way”. He has also insisted Climate 200 does not start campaigns or choose candidates, does not have a co-ordinated policy platform and does not have a leader or ­hierarchy.

Ms Caruso’s COF began operation in April 2019, a month before that year’s federal election and just two days after Climate 200 was registered as a company. It closed down in January this year after transferring to Climate 200 a total of $304,000 from undisclosed ­donors.

COF’s sole director and shareholder throughout its 2½-year existence was Mitchell Hopwood, a business acquaintance of Ms Caruso and Mr Holmes a Court.

Ms Caruso told The Australian that COF was her idea and her creation, with Mr Hopwood’s help, to raise funds from wealthy donors for helping independents.

She said she served as COF’s chief executive or general manager until leaving in mid-2020 for personal reasons, and COF did no fundraising after her departure. COF’s only known activity was to channel money to Climate 200.

Ms Caruso wrote in her three-part “Independents of Australia” manifesto, published in early 2019, shortly before she started COF, that a large number of independents supported by a “political party” was needed to challenge an inflexible party system.

She said her model was based on assumptions that a group of elected independents would significantly improve the quality of democracy in Australian, and that independents were currently significantly disadvantaged in terms of access to central funding, support and resources.

“Then it appears a sensible conclusion to establish a political party designed to offer independent candidates the support and resources they sacrifice for their independence,” she said.

According to Ms Caruso, parliament needed 56 independents to bring more accountability, or 25 per cent of MPs in both houses.

She told The Australian she had had contact with Mr Holmes a Court when she worked with COF, but no recent contact.

She said it would be “awesome” if her views on resourcing ­independents had influenced Climate 200, but she did not want to overstate her influence or take ­credit.

“My writings and my thoughts are mirrored by this broader frustration at the inadequacy of a system that has had largely very little innovation,” she said.

“I think what I’ve done is ­articulate a sense of what many other people are feeling and ­experiencing.”