By voting independent you get a representative who will
• put our local community first, not their party allegiance:
• be very influential in minority government (which is the most likely outcome of the next election);
• be influential in a majority government, including on big issues which currently neither major party is willing face; and
• avoid the risk of having an MP who is in the opposition (which is the least influential position in parliament).
Overall, voting Independent is the safest choice.
Can independents get stuff done?
A common complaint against independents is that they are unable to make the kinds of significant reforms we need to address the issues Australia faces. The argument suggests that only major parties in majority governments are able to build the broad agreement across the parliament that is required to get these kinds of reforms enacted. So what does the evidence suggest? Are independents or major parties better at getting stuff done and who has more influence?
Independents are hugely influential in a minority government
The most likely result currently predicted in the 2025 election is a minority government (78% chance at the moment- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-16/peter-dutton-anthony-albanese-election-polling/104941326?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email). This is where neither major party wins enough seats to form government so one of the major parties makes an agreement with independents or minor parties to form government together as a coalition. This gives independents a lot of influence within the government . Whichever major party is in power is relying on independents to remain in government, and to pass any legislation.
The positive impact of independents in the current government)
Community Independents in a majority government have achieved quite a lot since the last election, (even with a majority Labor Government) including:
• Dr Monique Ryan MP led the charge for alterations to HECS including a petition that resulted in significant changes to the approach to indexation of student debt in Australia.
• Zali Steggall, Allegra Spender and Kylea Tink pushed for the introduction of vehicle emissions standards (which previously didn’t exist in Australia) to protect consumers, decrease fuel costs, decrease dependence on foreign oil and address the climate crisis. https://reneweconomy.com.au/climate-independents-to-push-next-government-to-electrify-transport/).
• Independent Helen Haines spearheaded the creation of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Over the years the Australian people have been subject to some truly avaricious and immoral behaviour by their politicians. From pork barreling (see https://michaelwest.com.au/solar-rorts-the-federal-labor-government-caught-in-200-million-pork-barreling-scandal/ or https://michaelwest.com.au/pork-n-ride-another-dodgy-election-winning-rort-for-the-coalition/), to politicians giving contracts to their friends and family, to politicians giving lucrative and/or powerful jobs to their friends…the list is long and shocking and that’s just the examples we know about. The need for an independent body to police corruption was clear but it took an independent to bring the drive to make it happen.
Find out more hard facts about what Independent MPs have been achieving here.
Party members do what the party leadership says, not what the community wants
Party members only real source of influence is within their party room. All party members are able to vote on the party’s position on an issue, usually the majority vote will be the party’s official policy. If the majority of an MP’s party decides they don’t want to action a particular reform, that MP isn’t able to do anything, they’re stuck- because if they publicly dissent from their party they will be removed from the party and not chosen during preselection for the next election
(for example Fatima Payman: https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/fatima-payman-reveals-she-has-been-exiled-from-labor-caucus-amid-indefinite-suspension-after-palestinian-statehood-vote/news-story/bc222c42c0c89d5caab3d33914df11ee).
Independents have a lot more options to get things done
An independent can go to members of the party in power, reason with them, try to convince them to change their stance on the issue. But if that fails, independents aren’t stuck. They are able to build and show public support for the reform through a range of other means. These include petitions, hosting public events at parliament house ,public speeches and discussions on the issue, community listening events where community views are documented and publicised in formal reports and information sharing of international examples and expert evidence. By building and showing public support for this issue, this puts pressure on the government to change their policy as it becomes clear that is what Australians want.
An example of this strategy succeeding is vehicle fuel efficiency standards. While many within labour wanted these reforms, the majority view in the party was against it, so proponents were stuck. Independents however were able to engage in public forums, speeches as well as meeting with labour members, eventually managing convince labour to move in this important issue (see https://reneweconomy.com.au/climate-independents-to-push-next-government-to-electrify-transport/).
The powerlessness of an opposition MP
In actual fact, the least influential MPs are those in the opposition. These MPs are almost totally ignored by the party in power and spend most of their time in parliament house preparing heckles for question time. Their main job becomes to attack the party in power at every moment possible, regardless of what the policy issue is-even when the government is passing positive legislation. Just ask yourself what reforms between 2022 election and today the Coalition have gotten done? Absolutely nothing because they were in opposition.