Opinion | Australia’s watershed election: voters demand climate action and an end to corruption

There were no street protests or occupation of landmarks, but Australians have put politicians on notice using the ballot box. Their grievances are the same as elsewhere: a corrupt political system, arrogant politicians who pay lip service to the people, and policies which serves corporate interests rather than those of the public.

Known as “teal independents” because they combine “blue” Liberal policies with green views on climate, almost all these candidates are women with successful careers outside politics. They had two main rallying calls: more government action on climate change and the establishment of a federal integrity commission to tackle corruption in politics.

Michael West, writing in his blog “Independent Journalists”, praised the election outcome, while criticising mainstream TV networks for propping up a corrupt political system for so long. “They, like the government, have failed the people,” he wrote. “Yet the people have seen through it all, the propaganda, the corruption, the crony capitalism, the incompetence, the thick veneer of constant lies and spin.”

The Labor Party has formed a government with only 32 per cent of the primary vote, lower than the percentage it received when losing to Scott Morrison’s coalition in 2019. Indeed, Labor was only able to squeeze in because Morrison lost big to the teal independents, who bit into the Liberal’s urban upper-middle-class voter base.

The result was on the cards long before election day. In February, Simon Holmes a Court, founder of the group Climate 200, noted in an address to the Canberra Press Club that independents held considerable sway in some seats and would present a challenge to the two major parties.