Steggall: Independents need to get serious about the Senate

Independent MPs in Australia are losing political leverage by neglecting the upper house, Zali Steggall says, leverage they cannot afford to lose to the far-right. 

What happened: In June, Warringah MP Zali Steggall and Wentworth MP Allegra Spender announced they would be forming a new political party, building on a long-standing alliance between independent crossbench MPs. 

The party – Community Strong Australia – has been formed in the shadow of impending political donation reforms from the Labor government, which Steggall has previously claimed would harm independent politicians while benefiting major parties. 

How-to-vote: Steggall claims formation of a party was a topic of discussion among allies and volunteers even before Labor floated these reforms. Come voting time, she said the lack of Senate preferences on how-to-vote cards was a common source of frustration: cards only gave voters advice for one house of Australian parliament.

“So many people in the community would always ask, ‘but who do I vote for in the upper house?’ I've had three elections like that now,” she told the Lorikeet.

What next? Steggall has been elected to represent Warringah in the lower house three times now: for each of those, a majority government has held power. 

“At the moment, we have a lot of focus on our lower house ballot paper, not so much on the upper house”, she told the Lorikeet.

• In the previous parliament, elected in 2022, the Labor government held 26 of the Senate's 76 seats. To pass legislation, they could either cut a deal with the Coalition, or with a combination of Greens and independent senators.
  

• In the latter scenario, independent senators — such as David Pocock — held leverage to make policy changes. 

But in the current parliament, Labor has increased their majority to 30 seats, effectively negating their need to bargain with independents. 

“That has led to a change in the dynamic of negotiation. As much as David [Pocock] will be an ally, it's pointed out to me that it's not enough to just have him”.

It’s clear that electing one or more Community Strong Australia candidates to the Senate is a major goal for Steggall and Spender in 2028. 

When asked whether she had been speaking to Senate prospect Hannah Ferguson (who previously announced she would run for the NSW Senate as an independent in 2028), Steggall said she had spoken to Ferguson previously, but was not sure whether the Senate was “still her focus”. 

Thumbnail: Mick Tsikas via AAP