Kate Chaney says Liberals haven’t learnt their lesson as she gears up for second election

Teal independent Kate Chaney will run again in the formerly blue ribbon Perth seat of Curtin at the next election, declaring the Liberal Party had not learnt from its past mistakes and still didn’t understand her electorate.

Chaney is the first of her independent colleagues, unofficially known as the teals, to declare her intentions. She is confident the political winds that swept her and several like-minded independents in similar electorates across the country to power were part of an ongoing movement rather than a fleeting moment.

Independent Curtin MP Kate Chaney.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

She told this masthead she had observed the Liberals, who will be throwing the kitchen sink at wresting the seat back, still did not understand voters’ values in moderate seats across the country.

‘No change’

Chaney’s shock 2022 win, driven by her 29.5 per cent primary vote and a 12.7 per cent drop in the Liberals’ vote, was salt in the wound for the party in WA, which lost four other seats to Labor in a state rife with anti-Scott Morrison sentiment.

Chaney said the Liberals had shown no evidence they had learnt any lessons since that election.

“I haven’t seen any movement from the Liberal Party since the 2022 election that indicates that they are taking into account the views of more moderate electorates like mine, there just is no change,” she said.

“The Liberal Party lost seats like Curtin in 2022 because they were not representing the values of electorates like mine.”

In December, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said “the road back to government is through every single teal seat” with policies on affordable housing, support for working women and tackling the cost of living.

The Liberal Party recently preselected former Uber executive Tom White as its candidate to take on Chaney, who said his party was “back in Curtin”.

But Chaney is not convinced by the party’s approach to climate change, which remained a top priority for her voters, as evidenced by the 50 volunteers who helped her pen a 72-page report on how to get Curtin to net-zero emissions.

She lashed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s plan, announced this week, to build nuclear reactors on old coal-fired power stations as a culture war “pipe dream”.

“I think the discussion about nuclear is entirely part of a culture war,” she said.

“It’s just not economically viable and the Liberal Party, if they want to be taken seriously, actually have to have policies that are viable, and feasible.”

A hung parliament isn’t so bad

In Chaney’s ideal world, the teals would have held the balance of power in the lower house following the 2022 election, but Labor’s surge in Western Australia snatched that from them.

The teals’ goal will be to achieve a hung parliament at next year’s election to force any major party hopeful of forming government into meaningful policy compromises – particularly around political integrity and climate change ambitions.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with independent MPs Monique Ryan, Allegra Spender, Kate Chaney and Zoe Daniel in discussion after a division in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra last year.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The last hung parliament occurred in 2010 when Labor successfully formed a minority government with the Greens and independents, but the country was subjected to significant political turbulence.

Chaney rubbished suggestions a hung parliament was a bad thing and said the teals would be a force for good policy and legislation.

“I think the crossbench in this Parliament has shown that we and I are interested in the long-term interests of the country,” she said.

“A crossbench can be a moderating influence, rather than creating the chaos and uncertainty that we get warned about.

“There’s no doubt that I and my crossbench colleagues have had a greater ability to influence policy than we would have if we were Liberal Party backbenchers at this point.”

Donations and tax

Two policy areas that interest Chaney were tax reforms to alleviate personal income tax burdens and political donations.

Tax reform is a longer-term issue that Chaney said needed a mature approach that was severely lacking.

She hinted GST and corporate tax rates should be looked at, but declined to comment further over fears of causing a political storm.

“What happens is every time that turns into a debate about one particular piece of the tax puzzle, and scare campaigns are out there, and then we end up in this rule-in, rule-out game rather than actually looking at what the whole picture needs to look like,” she said.

“Everything should be on the table with tax, and we can’t have this situation where it’s taboo to even talk about parts of our tax system.”

Donation reforms are less contentious, and Chaney criticised the Albanese government for dragging its feet on proposed legislation.

She collected more than $1 million during her campaign, with several significant contributions from climate-independent backers Climate 200.

She has received more than $70,000 in donations since winning her seat.

Chaney has disclosed donations on her website in real-time since beginning her campaign and has continued to do so.

She said every MP should be doing the same.

“It’s not hard and there’s really no reason not to do it,” she said.

“There is a majority in both houses that would support transparency now, and that legislation could be passed now in time for the next election.

“I think it’s very difficult to mount an argument for why that’s not happening.”

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