Successful metropolitan Independents.
Top row left to right: successful incumbent Independent MP for Warringah (NSW) Zali Steggal, incoming Independent MP for North Sydney (NSW) Kylea Tink, & incoming Independent MP for Mackellar (NSW) Sophie Scamps.
Bottom row left to right: incoming Independent MP for Wentworth (NSW) Allegra Spender, incoming Independent MP for Kooyong (Vic) Monique Ryan, incoming Independent MP for Goldstein (Vic) Zoe Daniel.
IMAGE: The Guardian, 23 May 2022
The first eight of these nine Independent female candidates at the 21 March 2021 federal general election were frequently referred to as "teal candidates". A soubriquet initially arising from the dominant colour of Zali Steggal's how-to-vote electoral material and, a tag which was adopted by right-wing media and political commentators in an attempt to overtly label these candidates as an ersatz politically aligned group. Faced with the absurdities being woven around the term, "teal candidates", Independent campaign teams seemingly decided to turn the term back on their critics and to successfully use it to their own advantage.
As is typical of both the Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison and Nationals MP for New England Barnaby Joyce, neither politician was willing to admit that the fault for the Coalition's loss at the 21 March 2022 federal election lay within the Liberal and National parliamentary parties - as well as with their own poor performance in the respective leadership roles of prime minister and deputy prime minister.
It was not a surprise to see the language used by both men had more than a tinge of resentful chauvinism.
The Canberra Times, 27 May 2022, p.10:
Scott Morrison has claimed his devastating election loss was simply Australians wanting to "change the curtains", and accused the teal independents of running "very vicious and very brutal" campaigns.
The former prime minister has also refused to be drawn on the future direction of the Liberal Party, facing a reckoning after its moderate wing was decimated at Saturday's poll.
Speaking to 2GB on Thursday, his first post-election interview, Mr Morrison said he was "going back to being a quiet Australian".
He claimed the "trauma" of two pandemic-ridden years explained the party's worst result in 70 years.
"It's been incredibly tough, and I can understand that," he said.
"After all of that, as Barnaby [Joyce] said to me the other day, sometimes people like to change the curtains. They just like to change the curtains."
The Liberals' moderate faction was decimated as teal independents won previously-blue ribbon seats, including Kooyong, held by former treasurer and presumed future leadership contender Josh Frydenberg.
Dave Sharma, who lost Wentworth on Sydney's eastern suburbs, has claimed the leader's personal unpopularity had damaged his chances, a view relayed by other moderate MPs privately.
Mr Morrison said whether his personal unpopularity had hurt the Liberals in inner-city seats was a matter for the party to work through, but attributed the teal movement's success to simply promising "to change everything".
"They were very vicious and very brutal campaigns, talking to my colleagues about them. They played things very hard on the ground," he said.
"Anyway, that's politics; it can be a tough and brutal business."
Mr Morrison said he was "devastated" by Mr Frydenberg's loss, describing the former treasurer as a "huge part of the party's future".
In Mr Frydenberg's absence, conservative Peter Dutton is expected to be elected Liberal leader unopposed on Monday.
Saturday's results included a surge for the Greens in both houses, and independents promising stronger action on climate action, a federal anti-corruption commission, and better treatment of women…..
While Morrison may focus on a handful of highly visible House of Representatives candidates when accounting for his demise and Joyce on what he sees as the fickleness of the national electorate, the fact of the matter is that a majority of voters across Australia numbered their Lower House ballot paper preferences in the hope of ridding themselves of what these two particular men represented.
That majority doesn't just live in those eight comfortable to affluent metropolitan electorates or in the 15 other electorates where like-minded Independent candidates ran - it comes from all walks of life, every economic circumstance and cultural perspective.
Something all re-elected and newly-minted federal politicians would do well to remember during the next three years.
