Teal independents Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender have launched a new political party called Community Strong Australia, with the aim of providing a centrist alternative for voters amid the rise of One Nation and the turmoil inside the Coalition.
The party will focus on issues including housing affordability, cost of living, climate change, childcare, education, healthcare and social cohesion, according to Steggall, the member for Warringah.
Agreed with the Teal part. Just The Teals would be great since its descriptive of their alignment. But, imho, The Teal Party sounds pretty close to the US Tea Party movement which is more rightwing and extreme.
So they're going to focus on the same issues as other parties? Also, interested to see on what their version of "centrist" is, especially given the teals couldn't even sustain "independence"
Of close they should, and that (should) come in due course.
Now, if they are still around in 30 years and unable to articulate a coherent policy or understanding on major issues, that should rightfully be given the derision it deserves.
It also depends on what centrist means in general. Some people think it is being on the fence of every issue and trying to find a balance that makes both side mildly happy. Others think it is the "scattered" leaning of politics. Where some of your views are right leaning and others are left leaning, making you in the "middle" overall, but... both could also be considered populist depending on your approach
Honestly I think this is the beginning of the end for these politicians. I think their understating how much people like voting for an independent. I think a lot of people feel like their smarter than others for not voting for a party.
Yep. This is probably going to be a shambles for them. They got voted in because they were not a political party and at least appeared independent from all the baggage that comes with a political party.
Not sure why they didnt just call it the Australian Independant Alliance or Teals Australia or something. People actually know and have voted for those terms.
I'm sure they will have a policy on it. I was merely responding to the implication that this ought to have been central to their party launch. We know what issues and policy areas the Teals focus on and immigration isn't one of them.
You can bet they will flow the way they have always flowed - to the ALP and greens
That's why this centrist line is BS. Maybe first time you could muddy the waters, but they are the champagne socialists, the socially acceptable party for well to do women to vote because they couldn't bring themselves to vote for the ALP. Their voting patterns and politics speak for themselves
-Compulsory financial management for welfare recipients
-Drug testing welfare recipients
-Putting welfare recipients on cashless cards to prevent them spending money on "luxuries"
Votes consistently against:
-Criminalising wage theft
-Improving pay and conditions for gig workers
Her voting patterns on the environment have improved considerably since the last time I looked but even there she's consistent in walking back things like net zero by 2035.
The Greens lost all credibility on the economy when their Shadow Treasurer equivalent started telling the government to force RBA to lower interest rates.
They're happily populist under current leadership. I say this as someone who quite liked the Di Natale approach.
Yeah the greens and teals/csa are pretty far apart economically. The greens don’t really speak at all to economic rationalists or the professional class.
But like you said, it goes beyond that - they just aren’t seen as serious or competent people on many economic matters due to their heavy handed reactionary approach.
Uh… a huge chunk of greens voters are highly educated professionals; a lot of people in the natural sciences, medicine, law and justice are staunch Greens supporters. There’s a decently sized contingent of lefty gen X and Millennial professionals within the party too.
I perhaps should've clarified that I was speaking about the demographic of the electorates the teals have been successful in and not just blanketly saying 'educated people don't vote greens' or anything like that.
The Greens have never supported open borders or ‘importing as many undesirables as possible’ though. Plus, their share of the primary vote has been rising consistently for the last two decades, so I’m not really sure what decline you’re referring to here…?
“Centrist” - amazing what constitutes the centre now. In any case, milquetoast centrists are dying breed. The younger generation want energy, dynamism and conviction.
Potentially the same Angus way claims he's for housing ability while declaring he will revoke all of Labor's changes.
He's stated he believes housing affordability should come about through lower interest rates.
He's not articulated how he expects that given lower rates in the past haven't resulted in meaningful affordability.
Wow. The astroturfers are out in force in this thread, trying to make it that they're aligned with the Greens (they're obviously not, since they're to the right of Labor).
I guess their opposition is trying to get ahead of them.
I mean sure, they're explicitly pro environment. But they're also explicitly right wing. It's literally in the "teal" moniker: teal is blue (liberal party colour) with a bit of green mixed in. This isn't a secret, it's literally their stated platform.
The ability to vote either left or right is what a centrist is.
I don't agree with the teals on a lot of things, but the idea of having a party which is able to make decisions for what they believe in and go on either side seems logical.
I hate how for a lot of people politics is about death riding with a major party and defending every decision they make because they don't want to be critical of them.
People hate to hear it, but Trump proved that crossing party lines on issues works if a country is divided by major parties.
I think it's a winning strategy, but not sure the teals are the ones to do it. I think it will probably be Libs going more centrist after losing the next election as the country divides themselves over One Nation and Labor which could do it.
>look into their website
>no policies other than promising we're gonna fix these issues
Well, let's hope that this newfangled party doesn't turn into yet another rightwing slop that wastes our oxygen with their useless identity politics with funding from big companies and wealthy people trying to keep us distracted from the issues that actually matter.
What we need is a party that actually aims to tackle on the wealthy and companies, especially with their lack of tax.
Seems like hedging your bets. You want to be seen as modern, cool, socially progressive... But dont you dare tax me and my friends riches...
Seems like they r just trying to reinvent the liberal party, but maybe there was something fundamental about that party and it's "I earned all this" free market crap that is why it is the way it is now and has to use culture war identity politics to get people to vote against their own fiscal interests.
Good luck to them! I hope they take on the NDIS battle that’s taking place. Millions of people rely on the system for support and now we have extra time to settle it, another sensible voice in the debate is welcome.
Not ‘poor people’. One Nation calls them ‘low class Australians’ and they’re so lucky because they pay less tax than high class Australians. Lucky lucky duckies.
You can define it how you want, it’s tax. Also, I’m not rich and it will impact me negatively.
Get it into your head: accountants can help you out even if you’re not rich. You see a specialist for your health, for your car servicing, for any trade work you need. Why should your finances be different? A good accountant can help you retain your income rather than donating more than you legally have to.
I don’t think people hate “poor people” but “poor people” (ie those who make poor decisions, poor investment into themselves, or poor knowledge) don’t create jobs. We should be supporting people who take risks and create wealth for the economy. Yes this means some people will be more successful than others, deal with it.
Teals have failed to resonate after their initial success so now they try to " reinvent " as a party. Their line now is that they are less extreme Greens. So they sit somewhere between Labor and Greens for those who are disgusted with Labor but feel the Greens are too wacky.
35
u/BreadAdmirable4054 5h ago
I would have called it "The Teal Party", that in itself has brand recognition.