Climate 200 to help bankroll candidates in four Labor seats at federal election
Climate 200 will help bankroll independent candidates in four Labor seats – including one held by a cabinet minister – among 35 campaigns it will back at the federal election.
The fundraising vehicle's final list of target electorates confirms it will support former journalist and anti-salmon farming campaigner Peter George in his bid to unseat the agriculture minister, Julie Collins, in Franklin in southern Tasmania.
The climate-focused group will also donate to Kate Dezarnaulds in the hyper marginal Labor-held seat of Gilmore on the NSW south coast, and Phil Scott, who is contesting Darwin-based Solomon, held by Labor MP Luke Gosling.
The Canberra seat of Bean was previously the sole Labor electorate with a Climate 200-backed candidate.
After supporting 23 candidates at the 2022 election, including the six successful teal independents, Climate 200 will broaden out to 35 campaigns at this year's ballot.
The group will donate to nine incumbent crossbenchers and 26 aspiring independent MPs, 19 of which are running in Coalition-held seats.
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A further two seats – Moore in WA and Calare in NSW – were Coalition-held before the local MP turned independent.
The final batch of target seats shows shadow ministers Michael Sukkar and Michael McCormack will face Climate 200-backed candidates in their seats of Deakin (Jess Ness) and Riverina (Jenny Rolfe) respectively.
Anita Kuss' campaign to win Liberal-held Grey in regional SA and Nicolle Arrowsmith's bid for the Gold Coast-based Moncrieff will also receive support from Simon Holmes à Court's group.
Roughly half of the seats with Climate 200-backed MPs and candidates are in regional or rural electorates.
Guardian Australia last month revealed Climate 200 was outpacing donations compared to this time three years ago, when it eventually raised $13m.
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The group launched a new fundraising drive last week after Labor and the Coalition teamed up to overhaul electoral laws to cap political donations and campaign spending.
Crossbenchers lashed the deal as a 'stitch-up' designed to disadvantage smaller players.
Under caps that apply after the 2025 election, Climate 200 will be able to donate a maximum of $50,000 to each candidate per year, substantially less than the six-figure sums it has tipped into teal campaigns.
It will still be able to spend up to $11m campaigning directly.
In its latest appeal to donations, the group highlighted the increase in public funding for each vote from $3.35 to $5, which it calculated would hand the major parties an extra $140m combined.
During a confrontation with independent Zali Steggall on Friday, the special minister of state, Don Farrell, said the changes would give 'ordinary Australians' a better shot at winning a seat.
'The whole process pushes downward pressure on the cost of elections so ordinary Australians have a chance to be elected, not those candidates that are supported by the billionaires and the millionaires,' he said.
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