Will you help me help the 'teal' independents?
At a time of rising peril on multiple fronts, Australia can show the world
With things feeling like a rerun of the 1930s, I want to be able to say I did what I could.
Though nothing I do in my own safe(ish) Labor electorate of McNamara will change anything, I’m trying to have some impact in a seat that could change hands.
You may be in a similar situation or intending to vote for some other party. But I think the emergence of independents is incredibly valuable. I didn’t need to agree with Tony Windsor to have confidence that he was trying to represent the interests of his community and country.
But it’s getting increasingly hard to rely on the parties to do so.
The worst decision we made as a country in recent times was to abolish carbon pricing which we did despite most of the parliamentarians voting to do so knowing it was bad for us all. Why did they do it? Because as Peta Credlin said, it was good retail politics. Likewise the bulk of British parliamentarians voting for what is now the unfolding disaster of Brexit knew it was hare brained.
Secondly, it seems to me that if we can show the Coalition that their quite shocking descent into incompetence, special dealing and tolerance of corruption has a powerful electoral cost, we support those remaining in their ranks who do aspire to better.
I’d initially intended this to be a drive to raise funds for Simon Holmes à Court’s Climate 200, but to ensure it’s tax-deductible to you I asked him to nominate one of the candidates he’s helping. He put me in touch with Dr Sophie Scamps who’s running for Mackellar in the Northern Beaches of Sydney and, having met her, I’m very happy to endorse her.
I will match your contribution dollar for dollar up to a limit of $5,000 and with a friend contributing another $1,000 we're hoping to raise $12,000.
Every dollar you contribute up to $1,500 will be deductible.
Help me bend the arc of history towards justice.
And please send this email onto anyone else who might help out!