Latest news with #Steggall
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Support surge for teals despite vilification campaign
The Liberal Party's shift to a conservative agenda turned off liberal-minded voters, with many angered that the party preferenced One Nation and Trumpet of Patriots, a key independent says. Saturday's election showed the so-called "teal" community independents are here to stay with teal MPs retaining their seats, largely with more support after making history at the last election. Independent Zali Steggall, returned in her seat of Warringah, said the Liberals needed to listen and adapt following their crushing election defeat. "What's missing is they have abandoned concepts of liberalism. Where they are now is a conservative party," she said on the ABC's insiders program on Sunday. Number two on most of the Liberals' ballot papers was One Nation followed by Trumpet of Patriots, Ms Steggall said. "I actually had many voters come to me offended, saying they were previously moderate Liberal voters. "Absolutely no way were they one, voting for Peter Dutton but B, offended at the idea that the second preference went to One Nation." Ms Steggall said voters in general rejected the adversarial populism pursued by the coalition and the Greens. She said community independents had faced a campaign of vilification against them. "We've got to remember the News Ltd media and third-party groups … that were active actors in this election, threw everything at those campaigns to vilify and it was vicious," she said. "I think more respectful, positive community independents have held their ground or increased. And I think that's what Australians are looking for." When asked if the teals might form a bloc or even a party to ensure more negotiating clout, Ms Steggall said their current model worked very well, collaborating on issues and co-ordinating in some campaigning. Ms Steggall and fellow teals Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Sophie Scamps in Mackellar, Monique Ryan in Kooyong and Kate Chaney in Curtin will return to parliament. Zoe Daniel looked likely to retain her Melbourne seat of Goldstein, despite a swing against her to the Liberals' Tim Wilson. The teals could also be joined by Nicolette Boele, who is ahead with the majority of votes counted in the former Liberal heartland of Bradfield in Sydney's north. "Regardless of the outcome, this community has made it clear that we expect our representative to listen to and respond to the concerns of this community," Ms Boele said in a statement. Independent candidate Jessie Price is also in with a chance in the formerly safe Labor seat of Bean in Canberra, where she claimed a strong swing with more than 80 per cent of the vote counted. Crossbench stalwarts Andrew Wilkie, Helen Haines, Bob Katter and Rebekha Sharkie retained their seats. Independent senator David Pocock enjoyed a more than 20 per cent swing to him to take first spot on the ACT Senate ticket and win a quota in his own right. The senator gave credit to Labor for a campaign that delivered the party a huge majority in the lower house. "I think there is an opportunity for them to really make some bold changes and change the future of our country," he said.
Sky News AU
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Australians have rejected ‘adversarial' and ‘divisive' politics amid Liberals' election defeat
Independent MP Zali Steggall claims Australians have rejected 'adversarial' and 'divisive' politics and have looked for policies and solutions instead in this year's federal election. Ms Steggall's remarks come after the Liberals suffered a crushing election defeat against Labor, with Peter Dutton losing his own Queensland seat of Dickson. 'I think where it was about identity politics, I think there was a pretty profound rejection,' Ms Steggall told Sky News Australia.
Mercury
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Mercury
Steggall, Scamps, Ryan: Teal trio don't practise what they preach on donations
Three Teal independents who have campaigned for real-time disclosure of donations are not telling voters about who is giving them money and how much. While some Teals are voluntarily publishing details of financial support ahead of the election, the political finances of Zali Steggall, Sophie Scamps and Monique Ryan will remain shrouded in secrecy for months. With support from the Coalition, the Albanese government passed reforms in February this year that will deliver real-time disclosure – but not until July 2026. 'Australians are still left in the dark at this election,' Grattan Institute deputy program director Kate Griffith said. During debate on that legislation, Mackellar Teal Dr Scamps described the move to real-time disclosure as 'welcome', but also said the changes 'should have been done much earlier so that they could have been applied to the next election in 2025'. However, unlike some other Teals, Dr Scamps is not disclosing her donations in real-time during this campaign. Her spokeswoman said Dr Scamps had no comment. In 2024, Ms Steggall backed a 'fair and transparent elections' bill put up by fellow Teal Kate Chaney of WA. The bill called for real-time disclosure of donations. Yet Ms Steggall still does not publish donations in real-time; Ms Chaney does, even though her bill did not become law. Ms Steggall told this masthead: 'I strongly support reforms to donation transparency including real-time disclosures. However, until the long-overdue reforms take effect, and all candidates are held to the same standard, I will comply with the current legal requirements. 'In the current political climate, where disclosures can be weaponised without equivalent scrutiny of major parties or candidates, fairness and consistency must underpin reform.' Dr Ryan said in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into the 2022 poll that 'when Australians vote in an election, they should be able to know who has funded the candidates they are considering'. 'The fact that this is not currently the case decreases voters' faith in the transparency of the political process. Donations should be notified in real time wherever possible', Dr Ryan added. She does not disclose donations in real time. Her office did not respond to requests for comment. Disclosures by Wentworth independent Allegra Spender reveal former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's son Alex donated $25,000 last month – the same amount as he gave her at the last election. Meanwhile Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel, whose website shows specifics of the cash rolling in daily, has banked $16,000 from Samuel Terry Asset Management founder Fred Woollard. Accepting that money is in contrast to a decision of the NSW Greens, which rejected $7000 from Mr Woollard in 2022 because his fund invests in fossil-fuel businesses. Ms Daniel's website says tech entrepreneur Anna Josephson has donated $9800 since the start of the election campaign; Ms Josephson also gave $16,000 to Ms Chaney in February. The Australia Institute's democracy and accountability program director Bill Browne pointed to the merits of the voluntary actions of the Teals who were disclosing donations details. 'Parties and candidates can model an alternative political finance system in advance of it being adopted more broadly – that could be effective in showing that such a proposal is feasible and workable,' Mr Browne said. The changes that will lead to real-time disclosure from July next year replace a system that permits a disclosure lag of between 15 weeks and 19 months. Originally published as Teal trio Zali Steggall, Sophie Scamps and Monique Ryan don't practise what they preach on donation transparency
Perth Now
23-04-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Prospective kingmakers vow to push for more social help
Politicians who could hold crucial balance-of-power positions after the federal election have signed a joint pledge vowing to push for greater social supports. More than 70 sitting and prospective MPs have put their names to a joint statement with the Australian Council of Social Service calling for increases to JobSeeker and Youth Allowance. The list, made up of independents, Greens and other minor parties, includes Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie and senators Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock. The council wants the JobSeeker and Youth Allowance payments, set at just $56 and $47 a day respectively, increased to at least $82. Ms Steggall, who holds the Sydney seat of Warringah, said increases to the rates could form part of minority government talks. A minority government in which neither major party has the required number of seats to govern in their own right is a possibility, although Labor has increased its two-party-preferred lead over the coalition in recent opinion polls. "I will approach the question of minority government on a merits basis, I'm not interested in a deal and I don't want to be transactional about it," Ms Steggall said. "Obviously the will of the Australian people will be telling on the 3rd of May and we need to have stable government. "What I will be wanting to see will be either side's willingness to look at these major issues and inequities." Mr Wilkie, an independent MP who holds the Hobart-based seat of Clark, said a raise to the rates was long overdue. "To do anything else ... is just a deliberate act of cruelty," he said. Labor and the coalition have indicated increases to Centrelink payments aren't on their immediate agenda. At a televised debate on Tuesday night, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton talked up his party's cost-of-living relief including a 25 cent a litre cut to the fuel excise. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spruiked measures including tax cuts and a pledge to reduce student loans debt by 20 per cent. A Labor spokesman said the party was committed to a strong social security safety net. "We've said we'll look at payment rates as part of every budget and we'll continue to do that," they said. An increase to JobSeeker and Youth Allowance would have the biggest impact, Ms Steggall said. "We saw directly during COVID, when you bring support above the poverty line, people are in a better position to meet their essential needs and look for opportunities to enter the workforce," she said. Research shows there are no affordable rentals for someone receiving JobSeeker or Youth Allowance and people receiving JobSeeker are 14 times more likely to go without a substantial meal a day. "Australia is in the midst of a cost of living crisis, yet our income support system continues to trap people in poverty," council CEO Cassandra Goldie said.
ABC News
22-04-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Can the teals repeat the success of 2022 at the upcoming election?
One by one, the women crossed the floor. They weren't allies, not in politics anyway. Others came from behind, all stopping what they'd been doing to offer reinforcement to the woman standing alone in the House of Representatives. Her voice breaking, Zali Steggall was their target. She was pushing back against the heckles filling the chamber. "I would ask you to be silent," the Olympian-turned-barrister-turned independent shot in the direction of the opposition benches. Try as Speaker Milton Dick might, the Coalition wasn't for quieting. "We heard you in silence, you can hear me in silence," Steggall shouted. Before she spoke, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and frontbencher Dan Tehan had unleashed fire and fury at the Labor benches over the visas for Palestinians. But when scrutiny was returned back in their direction, the Coalition unleashed. Steggall has a way of getting under the skin of the men of the Liberal party. Toppling a former prime minister will do that. Tony Abbott with Zali Steggall ahead of the 2019 election. ( AAP: Peter Rae ) It's not to suggest Labor has much love for Steggall and her fellow teal independents, who surged into parliament in 2022. Some senior Labor men call them the "prefects" because of their insistence that rules be followed and called out when not. But this day was different. Labor's Jo Ryan and Tanya Plibersek led the way, quickly followed by mostly women MPs. As they crossed the floor and took seats, the teals too started streaming in, surrounding Steggall as she continued to speak. "We could barely hear her," Plibersek later said. "There was just a wall of noise being directed at her and she was standing there alone speaking." Steggall's election, along with the teals that have followed her, has upset the political establishment. They came to Canberra vowing to do politics differently and have spent the years since building an army that they hope will be a major force in Australian politics. Within weeks, we'll know if that effort has paid off. Teals Allegra Spender, Monique Ryan, Sophie Scamps, Kate Chaney and Zali Steggall are vying for re-election. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts ) Teals in the spotlight There is nothing new about independents in the federal parliament, but none have ever arrived with as much attention and fanfare as the teals. With Labor in majority, there has been a disproportionate amount of attention on the group given they hold very little power in the House of Representatives. That attention has been both a blessing and a curse. On a good day, it meant they attracted far more free media attention than other independents such as Andrew Wilkie, Helen Haines or Rebekha Sharkie could dream of. On a bad day, a minor indiscretion can be front page news. Their relationship with the government, which hasn't needed their votes, has been complicated from the start. In one of his first acts as prime minister, Anthony Albanese slashed their staff resources, creating early bad blood with the crossbench. And teaming up with the Coalition to overhaul campaign donation laws left a bitter taste in the mouths of independents who could prove kingmaker in the next parliament. Then again, Albanese's ministers brief the crossbench at the start of each sitting fortnight, to explain legislation and have open consultation. With an election increasingly pointing to the prospect of a hung parliament, some have wondered why Albanese hasn't been willing to allow the teals more wins along the way. If they keep winning their seats, they provide a powerful bulwark to the Coalition's return to power. In at least half of the now teal-held seats, earlier independent runs helped till the soil for their success. ( ABC News: Nick Haggarty ) Teal tsunami years in the making When six independent women rode into parliament after a teal tsunami swept through Liberal heartlands across three states, the simple story was that women were fed up with Scott Morrison. Derided by critics as the election of doctors' wives, the critics seemed to fail to realise they weren't the wives of doctors, they were the doctors. And while clearly benefiting from an anti-Morrison moment, their success had been years in the making. Six years before Steggall's election, Liberal Sophie Mirabella awoke on election day in 2013 fully expecting to be an incoming cabinet minister by the day's end. Her party won but she didn't. Her electorate dumped her for independent Cathy McGowan's insurgent campaign. McGowan's story was the inverse of many political tales. Instead of picking a safe seat to fulfil her ambitions, the seat, or rather her rural community, picked her to achieve its ambitions. Her community had created a model, known as the Voices For Indi, which would become the bedrock for other community campaigns. Years later, when conservative forces of the Coalition tore down the socially progressive prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, it created a rupture. Doctor turned independent Kerryn Phelps' election to his seat might have been short-lived, but looking back it's clear that her decision to stand created the environment for the teals to run. The teal victories in 2022 didn't come from nowhere. In at least half of the now teal-held seats, earlier independent runs, including Phelps', helped till the soil for their success. In the years when they were prime ministers, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull attracted more than 60 per cent of their harbour-side electorates' first preferences. Declines over the coming elections primed the electorate for an independent victory. For this to happen, they need to reduce the Liberal vote to below 43 per cent. At this level, the incumbent is vulnerable. Collect the preferences, and the independent can become the MP with as low as 29 per cent of first preferences — as was the case for Kate Chaney in Julie Bishop's old Perth seat of Curtin. "While the 2022 election might be heralded as a 'breakthrough' for the independents, the conditions for their election have been building over several decades," wrote the authors of the respected Australian Election Study. "Voters are now less 'rusted on' to the major political parties and becoming more independently minded in their political choices. "In 1967, 72 per cent of voters said they always voted for the same party. In 2022, this dropped to a record low of 37 per cent." Photo shows A collage of colourful images of independents Like their name suggests, an independent MP is separate from any party, with their own individual policies and views. Here's a guide to who's who. It's also too simplistic to say the teals were elected purely on Liberal voters turning their back on Morrison's government. The election study found most teal voters weren't disaffected Liberals, but tactical Labor and Green voters. The study found fewer than one in five teal voters had previously voted for the Coalition. "On average, teal voters are ideologically close to Labor voters — placing themselves just left of centre," the report found. Now in 2025, in an election not centred on climate, integrity and women, pundits are closely watching to see if 2022 was an aberration after all, or a new normal in Australian politics. Teals at risk of losing seats Bristle as some might at the use of the term teals (community independents is the preferred descriptor these days after years of Coalition attempts to dub the teals Greens in disguise), there is more that unites these women than separates them. Each had the backing of the Climate 200 group, each won a once Liberal seat and far more times than not, they voted the same way in the House of Representatives. Beyond their pro-climate, pro-women, pro-integrity positions, there is a consensus on the need for a new approach to taxation in Australia. But they're not aligned on every issue — how Sophie Scamps has responded to the Israel-Gaza conflict bears little resemblance to Allegra Spender. They also face differing electoral contests in the final days of the campaign. Political insiders expect Steggall to be comfortably re-elected, Spender too, having benefited from a redistribution that will see thousands of voters in Plibersek's electorate move into Wentworth. That same redistribution has already cost one teal their seat, with the abolition of Kylea Tink's seat of North Sydney. Often forgotten in the 2022 election was how close the teal victories were. Few expect it to be much different in the remaining four seats of Curtin, Goldstein and Kooyong in Melbourne, and Mackellar on Sydney's northern beaches. Curtin was the most marginal of those races. Incumbent Chaney finds herself against former Uber executive Tom White, who returned home from South Korea in 2023 with the hope of winning the seat back for the Liberals. Hugging Port Phillip in Melbourne's affluent south-eastern suburbs, Goldstein will see a re-running of former MP Tim Wilson against incumbent Zoe Daniel, a former ABC foreign correspondent. Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel is fighting to win a second term as a teal independent. ( ABC News: Kate Ashton ) Campaign insiders put Daniel and Chaney as the most endangered teals in this campaign. To Daniel's north, former paediatrician Monique Ryan, dubbed by some as "dragon slayer" for toppling treasurer Josh Frydenberg in 2022, will face a Liberal blue blood. Amelia Hamer is a 31-year-old Oxford University graduate and grand-niece of a Victorian premier. Self-styled as a renter, her campaign recently had to contend with revelations she owned properties in London and Canberra and was the beneficiary of a $20 million family trust. Ryan's campaign too was rocked after it emerged her husband was filmed removing a campaign sign for Hamer from a property in the affluent suburb of Camberwell. Scamps, an athlete turned emergency room doctor and GP, represents an electorate that looks different from her fellow teals. The seat of Mackellar is home to lower levels of income and education than the other teal seats. She will face Turnbull's former son-in-law and former soldier James Brown. Expecting a tight race, those close to Scamps' campaign were buoyed by a state by-election in Pittwater, which sits entirely within Mackellar, that saw another independent comfortably topple a Liberal. Alex Dyson is one of the growing list of Independents causing concern for the major parties. ( Four Corners ) Climate 200 hopes to inflict more pain on Liberals Having successfully supported the teal campaigns in 2022, the political campaign group Climate 200 is again hoping its support will deliver more Liberal losses. Three seats offer the greatest potential for upsets and will see re-runs of the last campaign. In urban Bradfield (Sydney) and rural Wannon (south-west Victoria) independents Nicolette Boele and Alex Dyson gained around 20 per cent of the primary vote in 2022 , but only lost to Liberal cabinet ministers 54-46 on a two-candidate preferred result. Close observers dub them ground zero for the community independent races, with Wannon expected to have millions of dollars in advertising pumped into it to help save Tehan. In Bradfield, Paul Fletcher's retirement could help Boele's chances. Read more about the federal election: Want even more? Also being closely watched is the Nationals seat of Cowper, on the NSW mid-north coast. Incumbent Pat Conaghan has faced two independents in his two elections, winning initially 57-43 before slipping to 52-48 in 2022. All three of those campaigns have benefited from Clive Palmer's Trumpet of Patriot's preferencing the independents ahead of the Coalition incumbents. The Climate 200 movement is also closely watching races in Queensland's Gold Coast (McPherson and Moncrieff), Victoria's Mornington Peninsula (Flinders) and west Gippsland (Monash) and two regional seats in NSW (Calare) and WA (Forrest). To win, they'll all need to reduce their Coalition opponent to a primary vote below 43 per cent and then get enough primary support to finish second. From there, if they can collect the preferences, they'll be in with a chance. Dr Monique Ryan celebrates winning Kooyong in 2022. ( AAP: Luis Ascui ) The curse of the prime ministerial seat Seats once held by prime ministers have long been seen as jewels in a political party's crown. One by one, those gemstones are being plucked away. Four of the seven teals hold former PM seats, with a fifth named after the only prime minister to have come from Western Australia. Labor too has battles on its hands, having already lost Kevin Rudd's seat to the Greens. Bob Hawke's seat of Wills and Paul Keating's seat of Blaxland will face the biggest threats Labor has seen there. Photo shows Brett Worthington looks at the camera wearing a blue blazer and glasses Sign up to the ABC Politics newsletter with Brett Worthington If independents win in Wannon and Bradfield, another two prime ministerial seats will fall. Try as the opposition might to dismiss the teals as Greens in camouflage, many would argue these socially progressive, economically conservative, educated, successful women should be modern Liberals. That the party has found itself lurching to the right on social issues has alienated parts of its traditional base. Turnbull, whose seat is now held by independent Spender, argues the party he once led can only blame itself. "The message to the Liberal Party is clear: you cannot take your centrist liberal voters for granted," he wrote in an essay published last year. "And in a House of Representatives of just 151 seats, it is very hard to get to 76 if nine of what had once been your safest seats are in the hands of liberal independents, each of whom has built up a formidable local grassroots organisation." Another political insider puts it more plainly. "If [the teals have] a net gain of two or three seats, it's surely got to be a serious come-to-Jesus-moment for the Liberals if they ever want to be a party of government again." Having problems seeing this form? Try
