Climate 200, a group that has collected more than 12,000,000 Australian Dollars, or $8.5 million from 12,000 donors, to help 22 independent candidates, has supported their campaigns.
Critics have argued that they are not truly independent. But Ms. McGowan and others, including Simon Holmes à Court, a founder of Climate 200, say the traditional major parties just don’t get that they’ve been disrupted.
The independents and their supporters describe what’s happening as a 21st-century movement, organized on Slack and Zoom, crowd-funded, decentralized and committed to pragmatism.
“Whatever the issue may be,” Ms. McGowan said, “what they want is action.”
Fun … and Climate Change
Ms. Spender is a first-timer who has worked in education, renewable energy, and for the fashion company she founded. mother, Carla Zampatti, campaigning with new community groups often feels like her swim toward a distant buoy with energetic neighbors — exhausting, a little scary, but also rewarding.
After her Bondi trip, she walked to a nearby cafe along with the rest of the group. Ms. Spender waited in line to get coffee and warmed up with other swimmers, as well as a few dogs wearing Allegra scarves. She talked less for the next hour than her volunteers.
“This is the alternative to a career politician,” said Jonathan Potts, 51, who said he spends five hours a day volunteering to get Ms. Spender elected. “It’s a different philosophy — we want to look after long-term interests rather than party interests.”
Interviews revealed that many independents were initially reluctant to run but were surprised at how much fun it was to work with a community-driven, ideas-first approach.
Source: NY Times