Teal independents

Voices for Indi, a campaign group formed in the regional Victorian seat of Indi which successfully campaigned for independent candidate Cathy McGowan in the 2013 federal election, is considered a predecessor to the popularity of teal independent candidates.[5][6]

McGowan retired from parliament at the 2019 federal election and Voices for Indi campaigned for Helen Haines to succeed McGowan,[7] while Voices of Warringah in inner-northern Sydney successfully campaigned against incumbent member and former prime minister, Tony Abbott, in favour of former alpine skier Zali Steggall as their candidate.[8]

In the 2020 Queensland state election, independents Claire Richardson and Sandy Bolton ran campaigns using the colour teal, and with similar policies to Haines and Steggall.[9][10] The latter was successful.

Influenced by the corresponding groups in Indi and Warringah, a number of Voices groups organised before the 2022 election, around issues relating to the environment and political integrity.[11][12] At the 2022 federal election, teal independents defeated six sitting Liberal MPs; Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Kylea Tink in North Sydney, Zoe Daniel in Goldstein, Monique Ryan in Kooyong, Kate Chaney in Curtin, and Sophie Scamps in Mackellar.[13][14][15][16] In addition, Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie, Rebekha Sharkie and Helen Haines were re-elected.[17] Another ten teal lower house candidates were unsuccessful. In the senate, teal David Pocock was elected for the ACT, while two other teal senate candidates were not.

Voices groups and Climate 200 stood candidates number of seats at the 2022 Victorian election,[18][19][20] however none won their seats and only three reached a two-candidate-preferred vote.[21][22]

In the 2022 Willoughby state by-election, Larissa Penn who already ran back in 2019 gained 29.66% (or 46.70% in TCP). She has been counted as teal candidate.[23][24] In NSW, despite the success of teal independents in 2022 in Sydney, only one teal independent was elected, Judy Hannan in Wollondilly, likely due to optional preferential voting in New South Wales, which hurt teal candidates because preferences were essential for teal candidates.

Most teal independent candidates have received the support of fundraising group Climate 200 (a political funding company led by Simon Holmes à Court), and were largely female candidates challenging Liberal Party incumbent MPs. Ten candidates for the House of Representatives and one candidate for the Senate considered teal independents were elected in 2022, seven for the first time.[25]

Teal independents have been categorised in the media by financial and administrative associations with Climate 200. They are generally unaffiliated to a political party, except Rebekha Sharkie (Centre Alliance, first elected in 2016) and some candidates from The Local Party.[26] Senate candidates David Pocock and Kim Rubenstein also formed political parties for ballot purposes.[27]

In addition to financial support from fundraising organisations such as Climate 200, candidates raised significant amounts of money directly through their personal fundraising arms.[28][29][30]

Political law professor Graeme Orr describes the movement as a "nascent political movement", sharing resources and strategies across seats, and with similar policy focuses on climate change, government integrity and gender equality.[36]

A number of former politicians on the advisory council of Climate 200 endorsed the teal independents, including John Hewson, Rob Oakeshott, Tony Windsor and Meg Lees. Others endorsed specific candidates, such as former Fraser government minister, Ian Macphee who endorsed Zoe Daniel.[37] In one supportive editorial, The Age found that the teal independents "have often struggled to articulate policies crucial issues to Australia, including its relationship with China, the mounting debt bill, tax reform and cost-of-living pressures".[38]

Because many teal independents contested the 2022 election in seats that were generally considered to be Liberal Party strongholds, multiple incumbent and former Liberal politicians were highly critical of the movement in the months prior: Christopher Pyne accused the teal independents of deliberately seeking to consign the Liberal Party to long-term opposition by targeting moderate centrist voters;[39] Josh Frydenberg and Tim Wilson, who were both directly opposed by teal independent candidates, criticised the movement's open association with Climate 200 and called them "fake independents" and "so-called independents";[40][41] and Prime Minister Scott Morrison argued that sending teal independents to the federal parliament would have a negative impact on Australia's political stability.[36]

The teal independents were criticised for their lack of diversity by Australian-based South African writer Sisonke Msimang.[42]

Due to the impact and significance of the teal independents, 'teal' was announced as 'word of the year' by the Australian National Dictionary Centre.[43][44]

1.^ Despite being supported by Climate 200, Hannan has distanced herself from the label 'teal'[85]