Green crowdfunder Climate 200 spends $1.5m on six failed Qld seats

A “community crowd-funding initiative” seeking to advance climate policy poured $1.5 million into six Queensland seats at the last federal election, with nothing to show for it.

Erchana Murray-Bartlett won 13.75 per cent of the vote in McPherson. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Climate 200 spent more than $1.5 million trying unsuccessfully to win six Queensland seats from the LNP at the last federal election.

“Teal” candidates ran in the Brisbane seat of Dickson, the Gold Coast seats of McPherson and Moncrieff, the Sunshine Coast seats of Fairfax and Fisher, and the Toowoomba seat of Groom.

The election returns data published by the Australian Electoral Commission on Monday shows the teal-backers poured $631,000 into Erchana Murray-Bartlett’s futile run at McPherson, where she collected 13.75 per cent of the vote.

The self-proclaimed “maroon” independent who took on Peter Dutton, Ellie Smith, received nearly $315,000 from Climate 200, accounting for a third of her total donations during her attempt to knock the former Opposition Leader out after more than 20 years as the local MP.

She received another $100,000 from Keldoulis Investments Pty Limited and $18,000 from Vida Impact Fund

Ms Smith received just shy of 13 per cent of first preference votes, which when flowed helped propel third-time Labor contender Ali France to victory.

Ellie Smith took on Peter Dutton in Dickson. Picture: Annette Dew

Francine Wiig, who ran in Fairfax, received $219,000 from Climate 200, Keryn Jones was given $107,000 for her tilt at Fisher, and Nicole Arrowsmith collected $87,000 for her run in Moncrieff.

Suzie Holt, who took on the LNP’s Garth Hamilton in Groom for the second time, received $172,000 of her $405,000 of donations from Climate 200. Ms Holt, who collected 17.1 per cent of the primary vote and 44.3 per cent of the two-party preferred count, said in the lead-up to the election that “90 per cent of our donations are from local donors”.

In total, Climate 200 made almost $11m in donations across the country during the election, a $5m increase from the 2022 poll.

The second largest donor was Keldoulis Investments Pty Ltd, who gave $2.6m to independent candidates across Australia. Robert Keldoulis gave $705,000 from his own wallet.

Wentworth MP Allegra Spender and Kooyong MP Monique Ryan topped the list of the biggest spenders, but spent less than they did in 2022.

Groom Independent candidate Suzie Holt. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Francine Wiig ran as an independent for the seat of Fairfax.

The election returns did not include data for political parties, who must make an annual return.

Special Minister of State Don Farrell said the electoral reforms legislation passed before the election would “stop the billionaire arms race in federal elections by capping expenditure and donations”.

“That included significantly increasing transparency in our elections by lowering the threshold for public reporting of donations and increasing the frequency of reporting,” he said.

“Australians deserve to know who is funding their elections and our reforms deliver this.”

Originally published as Green crowdfunder Climate 200 spends $1.5m on six failed Qld seats