And if they are elected, then the only thing I can guess [is] that, being accountable to their communities, they will take their mandate with them. Zali Steggall effectively blamed the accountant, Damien Hodgkinson. And what does it say about struggling to manage $100,000 check when youre talking about disclosing $1000 donations? Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over 25. For the campaigns, this information is open source, freely shared. Simon is the founder of Climate 200, a group of more than 7,300 Australians working to help community-backed independent candidates contest the next federal election. Go and join millions signing petitions online or march in the streets. $3.4 billion. 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Simon Holmes a Court: Well, certainly the passion is there, right? Because politics is too important to be left to politicians. Weve seen the trashing of Freedom of Information, of the information system, as independent Rex Patrick has fought so hard to highlight. When we first started talking to candidates, candidates came to us having conversations about supporting. Splitting that donation would have been if every one of them had been under if it had been split into I dont know think about that. Im saying that the independents will form their own opinion on which party is able to deliver on the issues that they have a mandate for. Once confirmed, your ticket and any transaction fee will not be refunded or exchanged, except as provided for above or as required by law (including the Australian Consumer Law). Or was it back in 1996 when Ted Mack became the independent Member for North Sydney? We dont choose candidates. If they ask us, you know, that theyre looking for advice on who they can talk to about XYZ, well pass that on. What Climate 200 seeks to do is strap a turbo onto that car, or a spare battery pack, if you will. Simon Holmes Court's Climate 200 group has already raised a $7m war chest to back at least 12 independents taking on government MPs in traditional Liberal seats, including Victorians Josh Frydenberg and Tim Wilson. Im not sure this is the forum for it. Every member has access to more than $750,000 per term for what is euphemistically called office and communications budgets. These are often used for campaigning. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. I mentioned the challenge to the major parties a little earlier. This is a spontaneous, autonomous and entirely individual set of responses across the country to community dissatisfaction with politics as usual. Simon Holmes a Court with todays Press Club address. For the next two months, lets spend a little less time hacking at the branches. Yes, Simon is a happily married man; his wife's name is Katrina Holmes Court. Just following up from that question, given your key priorities are climate change, and national integrity commission, and gender equality: which party is do you think is best to achieve those measures if elected in May? In February 2019, just three months before the last federal election, the Coalitions lack of climate policy was an embarrassment. Unfortunately, the game is rigged. And let me just quickly say, the Coalition received $65 million in undisclosed donations in 2019: $65 million, without any name attached to it. Holmes Court successful career has earned him some luxurious lifestyles and some fancy car trips. 3 March 2023, 8:49am. The vast majority of our donors are on our website, go check it out today. National Press Club of Australia They brandish lumps of coal in Parliament and Australians have had a gutful. But these movements are rising up where people are fed up with the current politics. At the end of the day, they go back to their rooms and they read through the notes of the next day in Parliament. Simon Holmes a Court: Firstly, the donation you talked about is not split. It is not hidden, it is absolutely clearly disclosed. People are fed up, and can you blame them? Simon Holmes a Court: Yeah. When @MonashUni's Maggie Kirkman interviewed Baby Boom women she found they wanted respect + an end to the stereotypes. They make themselves exempt from the Privacy Act so they can spam them [voters]. And Helen, you wouldnt even know that shed organised it, right? One of our supporters described it to me as feeling a feeling of active hope. Simon Holmes Court is the convenor of Climate 200, a "movement" that's so far received 8,000 donations to support the campaigns of independents contesting the Liberal-held inner-city seats of Wentworth, North Sydney and MacKellar in New South Wales and Goldstein and Kooyong in Victoria. So often they are the conscience of Parliament. The A decade-long climate war and inadequate government action have left a vacuum of opportunities that are being sucked up by an increasing number of business leaders, investors and activists. We would be pretending to be something that we are not, if we were a registered party, and we dont have any candidates. Or would you call Barnaby Joyce? But as he so clearly showed, money alone wont get you there. Simon Holmes a Court, the son of one of Australia's great mining entrepreneurs, has launched his own corporate mission: obtain greater renewable energy subsidies and a price on carbon dioxide . Tom Connell: And Damian is staying in the role. By purchasing tickets, you indicate your acceptance of the following terms and conditions of sale. But together weve raised over $7 million. If theres some event organised in the local community, lets say tomorrow, there was a you heard of dignitaries coming to town, you had to organise something, put it together really quickly, who would you call to organise that? And weve got about a dozen questions, so weve got limited time to get through as many questions as possible. I also acknowledge Meg Lees, the the former leader of the Democrats and a member of Climate 200s Advisory Council. So, in essence, more than three quarters of that annual spend evaporated in an instant. npc@npc.org.au, 2023 National Press Club of Australia This election, voters in over 20 electorates are being offered a new political choice, a viable option for breaking the political deadlock on vital issues. Just 20 percent of Coalition members in the lower house are women: 25 years ago, it was 21 percent. document.getElementById('b605c87554ef12002a17312a2b9fd78634a2745c').innerHTML = 'frank.jotzo@anu.edu.au'; And some campaigns have chosen Each campaign is choosing their own disclosure. And then after that point worked in, I think it was his own startup company, active in agriculture, and then turned his sights on renewable energy, and eventually set up Climate 200. Michael Robert Hamilton Holmes Court (27 July 1937 - 2 September 1990) was a South African-born Australian businessman who became Australia's first billionaire, before dying suddenly of a heart attack in 1990 at the age of 53. One is Helen Haines, another one is the governments, another one is the Labor Partys. Weve seen the defunding of the Australian National Audit Office, the organisation that uncovered the Leppington Triangle disgrace, sports rorts, carpark rorts, and just yesterday the Safer Community Fund rorts. And they would like privacy. If a campaign wants to work with us, and we want to work with them, we can make their cars go faster. https://twitter.com/monashpub/status/1630472708046856192, Cant wait to read this https://twitter.com/MonashPub/status/1630737724113317890. He insists the Maltese people's voice was the . Simon Holmes a Court: Okay, so a couple of questions there. We have really strong internal processes that would flag any donations that are worthy of further review. Some choose to join the parties and attempt to change from within. I cant think of any other crew, that is, any major party. More than half of the critical minerals in every Tesla that zooms around the worlds streets comes from Australia. And people say, why not in Labor sets? Ben Jallat is one: hes a 55 year old electrical fitter from a small rural town in New South Wales. Sorry, were trying to get these candidates in. And if not, what kind of criteria are you applying to, I guess, on due consideration to this. But it wont be powered without a purpose. So my personal opinion on this: yeah, I would hope that both parties will come to those negotiations with their best possible policies to deliver on what Australians and those electorates want. Simon Holmes a Court: So, youre saying that one side is good on these and the other sides bad on these? Disgruntled small-l liberals. Our values are simple, not a policy platform, deliberately not specific. James Morrow: Thats fine Mr Holmes a Court. David Crowe: Thank you very much, Mr. Holmes a Court, that was a very interesting speech, warmly received by the room, Ive got to say. David Crowe: And the next question is from Tom Connell. Now, youve said a number of times today that you have not sought specific undertakings from candidates, but surely, if you have agreed to find candidates to run in various electorates, knowing that there is possibly a minority government situation at the end of this election, surely Climate 200 has had discussions with these candidates about what those values mean in practice. There are a lot of Australians who want the right to donate. They speak from the heart of their communities about the issues that really matter. Some have similarities, they will have an engine, they will have four wheels.