ACT independent Senator David Pocock has not ruled out running for a Lower House seat at the next federal election. Photo: David Pocock.
ACT Senator David Pocock has flagged a possible tilt at a Lower House seat and forming a new party with other independents.
During a wide-spanning interview on the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday (24 May), Senator Pocock was directly asked if forming a new party of like-minded independents might be a good approach to countering the rise of the far-right One Nation.
His response made it clear that the idea wasn’t new to him, and neither was the suggestion of trying to join other independents in the House of Representatives.
“I’m always happy to chat about the future of our country,” Senator Pocock said.
“I think there’s so many people in politics for the right reasons and, when you’re in there, you want to say, well, how do we actually ensure that people can elect people that are going to come here and really deal with the root causes of the problems that we’re facing, because we haven’t seen that.
“It’s a big question in the current political climate as an independent.
“As to what that looks like in the future, who knows? Currently in the Senate, there is plenty to do, and that is my focus.
“How do you be part of changing our country for the better? For me, at the moment, that is serving people in the ACT, engaging on each issue, bringing solutions, using whatever power I have in the Senate to actually work on behalf of the people that have sent me there.
“As to what that looks like in the future, who knows?”
Senator Pocock said he would like to see community-supported independent candidates run for parliament in every electorate at the next federal election.
That could explain the recent publicity around Voices of Canberra’s “search” for a candidate for the seat of Canberra instead of embracing proven performer independent Claire Miles for the electorate.
Senator Pocock, who is aligned with the Voices movement, might have his eyes on the safe Labor seat for himself.
His comments follow new polling published on the weekend suggesting Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is on a path to becoming the official opposition party in the Federal Parliament.
The Redbridge poll, which surveyed more than 6000 voter intentions between 29 April and 14 May, suggested One Nation could win up to 59 seats in the House of Representatives at the 2028 election and all but wipe out the Coalition.
If left unchallenged, that trajectory could see the end of the two-party system as we know it in Australia.
Redbridge offered a low-to-high estimate of the number of seats each party could win at the next election, with One Nation ranging between 46 and 59 seats, with a median of 53.
Labor’s seat numbers were estimated to be dented significantly from the 94 it currently holds to between 70 and 82, with a median of 76.
The Coalition, however, could be reduced to between 7 and 21 seats, with a median of 12.
Senator Pocock said the latest polling should be sending a clear message to the major parties that voters are not happy with them.
“There is a lot of frustration and anger out there in the community that our political system is not working for Australians,” the independent said.
“There’s this recognition that on so many of these big challenges we are facing, it’s not necessarily left versus right, it’s actually vested interests and their stranglehold on the major parties versus the Australian people.”
On Monday morning (25 May), the independent Member for Warringah, Zali Steggall, confirmed the crossbench Teals were in talks about forming a new party, but she would not say how far along those talks were.
“There are conversations,” she told Radio National.
“That’s about all I can say.”
She added, however, that discussions focused on how the independents could work more collaboratively and take advantage of the “efficiencies” of a united front in Federal Parliament.
“I’m always open because, of course, I’m in my third term and after seven years in parliament, I can see how there are many things we could do politically better and differently,” Ms Steggall said.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, who hasn’t ruled out aligning the Coalition with One Nation for the next election, used a Liberal Party speech on the weekend to urge a concerted membership drive.
“I have never seen a better time in my political career to recruit supporters and members to the Liberal Party,” he said.
“Let’s get them putting corflutes up, let’s get them on the booths.”
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
