Two independent Australian MPs have come together to launch a new political party they say is the answer to a divisive situation.
The Community Strong Australia group – launched in Canberra on Thursday – will offer “unity over division and reason over anger”, will have no leader and will allow members to vote freely, rather than following parties.
Two of its members – Sydney MPs Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender – are from a group of independent MPs known as “teals” who share civil liberties values and want greater climate action.
The party will provide “some political energy” to Australia’s two-party system, the pair said.
Australia’s political landscape has traditionally been dominated by two major parties – the centre-left Labor and the Liberal-Nationals Coalition, which is consistently conservative.
Labor won a landslide victory in last year’s election, securing a second term in office, while the Coalition suffered a crushing defeat, followed by months of fighting.
In recent months, the far-right party One Nation – led by Pauline Hanson – has seen a surge in support, including polls that have found her a popular prime minister.
Asked if the recent increase in support for One Nation and their anti-immigration rhetoric had made them decide to form a new party, Steggall and Spender said they were guided by what their constituents told them.
“We really hear those complaints,” said Spender. “People are frustrated and tired of the current situation,” he said, adding that “if I wasn’t in politics, I wouldn’t know who to vote for.”
Spender, who won his seat in 2022, said the party wanted to “hear from communities beyond our own who want a voice that truly represents them”.
Steggall, a former lawyer and Winter Olympian, has been a federal MP since 2019, after ousting former prime minister Tony Abbott in an election held by the Liberal Party for more than a century.
“We don’t want to fight, we don’t want to blame each other. We want solutions that will make a difference for us,” said Steggall.
The new party “offers unity over division and reason over anger”, he said, and was an “invitation” to voters “to come and build the kind of Australia we want”.
Key issues for the party will be housing and the cost of living pressures and climate change, childcare, education and health care.
The pair also told local media that Climate 200, a political group that helped finance independents who won several Liberal seats in the last election, was not affiliated with the new party.
New election financing rules allow political parties much larger campaign budgets, which some independents say will limit their chances.
A few other independents have ruled out joining, and two other independents are “drinking” considering their options.
The party has applied to the Australian Electoral Commission where registration is expected to be completed in October.
