Zali Steggall says PM Scott Morrison ‘hypocritical’ on funding

Warringah MP Zali Steggall calls out Scott Morrison’s attack on funding for independents in the lead up to the next election.

Zali Steggall, Federal Member for Warringah speaks to media at parliament. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Warringah MP Zali Steggall has called-out Scott Morrison’s “hypocritical” attack on funding for independents in the lead up to the next election, declaring she may still receive a donation from climate activist Simon Holmes A Court before the next federal poll.

The Prime Minister on Friday dismissed the threat posed by independent MPs targeting Liberal seats while accusing them of being a party.

“I mean, the thing about these groups is they’re pretending not to be a party,” he told 2GB. “They are a party. They’re backed by some big money at the end of the day, and they’re about trying to attack the Liberal Party.”

“...They’re backed by some big money at the end of the day … [that] doesn’t sound very independent to me. When people hear ‘voices of’, you hear voices of Labor and the Greens.”

But Ms Steggall, who ousted former prime minister Tony Abbott in the seat of Warringah at the May 2019 election, said Mr Morrison’s comments about donations were hypocritical considering the money the Liberal party received.

“What I find interesting is that the prime minister doesn’t have an issue with Clive Palmer spending $80 million dollars on his part,” she told Sky News on Sunday. “If we’re really talking about big money influencing politics, we really need to look at that, or actually the millions of dollars that get donated to the Liberal Party and the Labor Party that actually doesn’t properly get reported. So I think this is very hypocritical.”

Ms Steggall said she had not received any money from Mr Holmes A Court’s Climate 200 group or Atlassian Founder Mike Cannon Brooks at this stage, but couldn’t rule it out.

“Climate 200 didn‘t support me at the last election, they may well support me at this election...,” she said. “At this point, they haven’t (donated)… I would expect them to. I have a platform but again, that’s up to them.”

Ms Steggall said the Liberal party had moved “so far to the right” under Mr Morrison so voters were now looking for an alternative that represented their values. She said communities had been getting together to source funding in way that would help them to compete on an even footing with the major parties.

Asked about the possibility of a minority government at the next election, Ms Steggall said that such a scenario would most likely result in better collaboration.

“If it’s a minority government, it is going to force more collaboration of government but I think that is a good thing,” she said. “We respect that there’s a variety of views around the table. But the worst thing for democracy is when you have one side that just goes off on extremes and puts forward legislation that actually doesn’t serve the greater good of Australia.”

“So the irony is, it is a good thing to have minority government, it forces collaboration, it forces work. The worst thing that we have at the moment is Barnaby Joyce, who’s dictating and holding the coalition to ransom on what it can and can’t do.”

Ms Steggall said she wasn’t interested in being a kingmaker if the independents held the balance of power following the next federal poll, but would push for stronger climate action if it could be delivered in a fiscally responsible way.

She said she “didn’t think much” about the government’s Net Zero target, while Labor’s target of reducing emissions by 43 per cent from 2005 levels by the end of the decade if it wins government, was a “safe” political target.

“In the sense that they’re playing it safe for the election,” she said. “They’re providing something that’s just a little bit more than the coalition.”

Last week Labor ruled out any chance its 2030 climate target could be pushed higher if it is forced to negotiate with other parties or MPs, such as the independents, to form government at the next election.