The Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL roared as Anthony Albanese christened a new era of Australian politics. He opened with a proud Acknowledgement of Country and silenced jeers aimed at his defeated opponent. Albanese framed Labor’s unexpected 94-seat majority as a mandate for equality and inclusion. A Teal Party
You’d be forgiven for thinking these are similar values to those celebrated in electorates like Kooyong, Warringah, and Wentworth — where community independents, the Teals, triumphed. For the Teals, though, these values are rooted in climate action, political integrity, and community engagement.
Until now, shared values alone haven’t been enough to push the Teals to form their own political party. But that could change. In time for the next federal election, the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 2025 (Cth) will tilt the field against the Teals. The legislation explains these changes using the Quokka Party and the Wombat Party, I’ll use the Teals and the Liberal Party.
Reforms which squeeze independents
The new laws set a Division Cap of $800,000 in electoral spending per candidate and a Federal Cap of $90 million per party. These caps only apply equally in theory.
Although both the Teal and Liberal candidates will be capped at spending $800,000 in your local electorate, the Liberal candidate may also rely on the Federal Cap. The Liberals can run additional advertising with their branding, which will only count towards the Federal Cap, provided it doesn’t mention your local candidate or electorate. Without common branding as a party, the Teal candidate can’t rely on anything beyond their Division Cap. To makes things worse, Liberal Senate candidates can utilise their Senate Cap to commission similar ads across the state.
Funding that doesn’t scale for independents
All politicians will now receive administrative funding of $30,000 per year ($15,000 for Senators). For the Liberals, this could translate into $4 million flowing to head office in an election cycle, even if some of it is allocated to respective electorate offices.
The Teals will receive $90,000 each in an election cycle. Despite what a recent increase in tariffs will tell you, basic economic principles still exist, as do economies of scale. Through a centralised approach the Liberal head office will bring down the per politician cost of managing the party, organising policy discussions, complying with new obligations, among many other important exercises.
And despite the new donor cap of $50,000, it will apply to state and territory branches of the Liberal Party separately. The Liberals can rely on donations up to $450,000 per person, per year. High-net-worth individuals could donate up to ~$1.5 million to the Liberals across branches in an election cycle – dwarfing the $150,000 for each Teal.
Even public campaign funding has a skewed effect. With the rate increasing to $5 per primary vote, major parties benefit from national coverage that attracts them at least 10% of the primary in every electorate across Australia.
For example, in Albanese’s seat of Grayndler this election, the Liberal candidate David Smallbone, who finished third, attracted a 14.3% primary of 15,810 votes. The Liberal Party head office could now receive upwards of $75,000 for Smallbone, a candidate they likely invested very little in. This occurs across the entire country and the Liberal’s war chest replenishes by turning a profit from many seats.
The strategic case for a Teal party
The financial gain for the Teals should alone make this an easy decision. The Teals could spend twice as much in each electorate, attract ten times more in donations and spend extra millions thanks to the efficiencies of a head office. If the Teals added Senate tickets and ran more lower house candidates, these benefits would multiply.
From the Second World War to 2018, only 16 independents were elected to the lower house. Today, there are effectively 11 independents.
More importantly, the Coalition is fractured. If the Nationals withdraw again, it will leave only 28 Liberals in the lower house as the formal opposition party. Australia’s second major party hasn’t been this weak since the Second World War.
Independents also received over 1.1 million first preference votes in this election. That’s one in every 13 voters. Grouping these votes doesn’t do the community-first identity of the Teals justice, but the numbers don’t lie.
Between Nicolette Boele and Monique Ryan’s husband, there is even enough of a side show to constitute a political party.
A new political landscape?
The 2022 election was a surprise. The 2025 result may be a mandate to form a new centre-right party with a focus on climate action, integrity in politics and community engagement. This could mark the most significant structural shift in Australian politics since the rise of the Greens.
Australia’s two-party structure is under pressure, and global precedents, from Germany to France to New Zealand, suggest the path forward may be more pluralistic.
The Bondi Bowling Club will roar if Allegra Spender announces the formation of a new political party. But she won’t be christening a new era of Australian politics.
She’d be catching up with one.
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