The obsession, one verging on pathological, with political parties is producing its share of symptoms.  These include, amongst others, cynicism, a general loathing by the electorate, a suspicion about a lack of independence among its parliamentary members, and the feeling that these machine types cannot be trusted and estranged.  The independent representative is an antidote to this, a breath of the crispest, freshest air.  Why, then, form a party of independents, thereby ceasing to be independent and forfeiting your very strength?

Well-meaning and well-intended, Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender, two formidable independent parliamentarians known in Australian politics as the “teals”, have decided to do just that.  Both won their seats outright at the previous election (Steggall has been a member since 2019, when she famously unseated former Prime Minister Tony Abbott).  In May 2022, they, along with Zoe Daniel, Kate Chaney, Sophie Scamps, Kylea Tink and Monique Ryan, swept to parliament in what was dubbed a “teal bath”, winning inner city seats long held by the right of centre Liberal Party.  They did so on a platform studded with fiscal sensibility, anti-corruption, transparency and climate change.  In May 2025, these members generally held their ground in the Labor landslide that returned Anthony Albanese to power.  

Then, a few things happened.  These took the form of government electoral reforms to funding and the coarse right-wing populism of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party.  Not wishing to see the traditional major parties challenged by leaching votes to independent candidates and smaller parties, the Albanese........

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