Simon Holmes à Court, the convener of Climate 200, says his organisation has not extracted specific undertakings from candidates running in Liberal party heartland, because “if we start dictating specifics then we can hardly say these independents are independent”.
Holmes à Court on Wednesday declared Australian politics was “broken” and blasted the Morrison government’s record on climate policy, transparency and gender equality.
But he told the National Press Club he would not be dictating policy or determining the next government of Australia if there was a hung parliament after the election. He said his personal opinions didn’t matter “because I won’t be in parliament and I won’t be in any negotiation room – this is a decision for the independents”.
Climate 200 is a company not a political party or a charity. It is a fundraising vehicle to bankroll campaigns by independents prioritising climate action and stronger accountability measures.
Controversy erupted this week after it was revealed the independent Zali Steggall – who promotes climate action and greater transparency – received a $100,000 donation from the family trust of former coal company director John Kinghorn which the Australian Electoral Commission found was not properly declared.
At the time, the financial controller of the Warringah campaign was Damien Hodgkinson, who is now a director of Climate 200. Liberals rounded on Steggall, accusing her of hypocrisy.
Holmes à Court insisted his organisation complied with disclosure rules and Hodgkinson retained his full confidence.
He characterised political fundraising in Australia as a “David and Goliath” battle, where the major parties enjoyed significant structural advantages, including taxpayer-funded office and communication budgets “often used for campaigning”.
Holmes à Court said that in 2019 the Coalition raised $65m in undisclosed donations. The Kooyong fundraising vehicle supporting the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, had also received “$2.8m in the past five years without disclosing a single donor”.
Holmes à Court argued on Wednesday it was not hypocritical for Climate 200 to call for better transparency in Australia’s disclosure laws while not identifying all of its donors. He said some donors resisted voluntary disclosure beyond the current legal requirements because they feared retribution from the Morrison government.
He said Climate 200’s objective was to try to level the playing field between independents and the major parties. In that context, there couldn’t be one rule for the major parties and another rule for political independents.
Holmes à Court acknowledged there was “noise around electoral disclosure at the moment” but he said Climate 200 went “above and beyond the legal disclosure requirements, encouraging all of our donors, large and small, to disclose their names on our website” – a practice that “neither major party comes close to doing”.
He said if the major parties agreed to reduce the current donation disclosure threshold to $1,000 and mandate real-time disclosure, Climate 200 would comply with that policy, having already “taken the first step with our voluntary disclosure”.
Later in parliament, the shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, asked Frydenberg – who had blasted the Steggall donation – whether he could confirm the Kooyong 200 club raised $1.1m in donations last financial year but named no individual donors in paperwork lodged with the electoral commission.
“We adhere to the relevant rules,” Frydenberg said.
Holmes à Court said Climate 200’s values were “simple”: a “science-based response to climate change”, ending corruption in politics, and achieving real progress on gender equity and women’s safety.
Asked to explain how those values might translate to policy undertakings extracted from the major parties in a minority government negotiation, he said independents had made it clear to Climate 200 that any donations would have to come with “no strings attached”.
“We don’t have any agreement at all with the candidates, they are strictly independent and that is of critical importance to them,” the Climate 200 convener said.
He ventured that Steggall “got it right” with a private member’s bill requiring the government to set a rolling emissions budget and introduce risk assessment and adaptation plans, establish an independent climate change commission and incorporate the Morrison government’s technology investment roadmap.
Holmes à Court said he supported proper resourcing for the Climate Change Authority. But he declined to elaborate further.
