Recently political analyst Kevin Bonham ran through a list of minor parties that have folded, renamed, disbanded and otherwise fallen off the face of the earth altogether. My former Justice Party rated a mention as one of the many to enter the political graveyard, and I have to confess, when I wasn’t returned to Canberra as a Victorian senator in 2019, part of me died.
I wondered if my life was over. I believed I still had a lot of unfinished business.
It’s not easy being an independent or running a small party in Canberra. I starkly remember when I started the Justice Party. I had a coffee with electoral analyst Glenn Druery and excitedly told him I had registered the party name.
“What is it?”
“The Justice Party”.
“You’ll lose. You’ve got to call it Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party.”
I protested that, despite rumours, I wasn’t an egotist like Pauline Hanson or Clive Palmer.
Druery scoffed. “You are a brand. That’s like Kellogg’s just calling themselves cornflakes. People know you for what you stand for, why you went to jail”. He was right, the party name was changed, and I was elected.
We ended up with one federal senator and three members of the Victorian upper house. I had to sack one state member when she went rogue before even being sworn in.
A federal election must be held by this time next year and the pundits are predicting a return of the Albanese government but in a minority. It means the Greens, the teals and other crossbenchers gain more muscle. I saw a recent poll posted by Peter FitzSimons on X/Twitter where the question was asked: Having closely watched the performance of the teal independents since the election, how will it affect your vote next time?
The results were really interesting. More than 60% said they would be more inclined to vote teal, 11% said less inclined and 25% said their view was unchanged.
Minor parties can have successes. Aided by then foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop, I got legislation passed to stop convicted paedophiles engaging in child abuse tourism in the region. Campaigns can work.
Peter Dutton, a former cop, called me at 7am one day to say we had to get the public register of convicted sex offenders off the ground. It is now Liberal Party policy.
Another lesson for small parties and independents: campaigns cost money. And you don’t get the big corporate cheques that major parties do. Earlier this year I announced I would run for lord mayor of Melbourne. I pulled out after the money men went through everything dollar by dollar and concluded a real campaign would cost between $125,000 and $500,000. When I shut down the Justice Party I personally paid the last bill of $17,000 to Australia Post. I wasn’t going down that dollar drain again.
But going back to my confession. I miss Canberra terribly. I still want to be there. I watch question time with mixed emotions. I could have, should have, done more. But the tribe has spoken, as they say, and that’s democracy.
This man once described people who ride bicycles on the road as ‘cockroaches’. Basically inferring they should be squashed. No sympathy.
Implying. (But I gave you an uptick anyway).
Very valid point and demonstrates how it’s easy to miss connecting the dots when it comes to standing up for vulnerable people.
Both Hinch’s advocacy for sexual abuse victims and inferring that bike riders should be squashed shows compassion for one group and a lack of compassion for another group effected by violence, admittedly in a different form.
While I’m not expecting Hinch to become a bike safety advocate, it certainly helps to show compassion across the board if he wants to draw more people towards a cause that he is passionate about.
Agree, very sceptical on single or several issue parties and MPs i.e. focus on single issue can preclude focus on other compelling issues; also a tactic used by RW campaigns to create doubts in the centre, parties are the same (not) etc., with a whiff of narcissism.
The derision heaped by conspicuous consumers on people who wear Lycra on a bike might have a psychological connection to the fact these ‘cockroaches’ are the most efficient land travellers the planet has ever seen… That’s quite the margin to be shown up by.
Entirely true, and important. Although representative democracy is sold to the citizens on the basis that voters have the power because they pick their representatives, in practice the candidates on offer have almost no chance if they do not have a heap of money to begin with. Most of the money comes from the big donors, and again there is a lie told to make this acceptable, the lie that the donors are supporting a party because of a political commitment and to help democracy; but the fact that these big donations almost all go only to the major parties who will be able to return the favour when they are in power is all the proof needed to show these are not political donations, they are payments or inducements for services, or just plain bribes. (Although the return on the investment made by the big corporate donors is often so wildly excessive when compared to the payment made to the party, the donation appears to be more in the nature of condescending to tip an obsequious flunky than anything else. If the governing party openly auctioned or sold its services at a market rate it could make far more money for itself.)
For all that, looking at the sums of money Hinch cites in his article, this is still a very cheap democracy compared to the USA, thanks to the US Supreme Court removing nearly all controls on political spending, so it is growing very rapidly. The 2020 election campaign there involved spending about US$14 billion.
Correct. Derryn, it wasn’t the tribe that spoke. It was the big donors. Who most certainly receive an unbelievable ROI. For a few tens of thousands to their chosen crooked party they often receive billions in return.
Possibly best not publish the one waiting for approval, I’m a tad intolerant of shock jocks err , thanks
I found myself standing beside Derryn at Canberra airport and was sorely tempted to give him some advice on an upcoming vote. I wanted to urge him not to vote with the LNP Government on an issue because (a) they were wrong, and (b) it was necessary to keep differentiating oneself from the rest of the mob to keep voters voting for you. Peace in our time just does not cut it.
Sadly I decided to leave him in peace. I blame myself.
I’m a bit disturbed that an independent or micro party leader watches QT with “mixed emotions”. Surely complete disgust is a more appropriate response for anyone interested in the functioning of our democracy? Or, maybe shock jockery makes one somewhat immune to manipulation and hysteria?
I donated to our independent’s campaign last election as she struck me as offering Helen Haines type representation. It was the first time in over 40 years’ of elections I donated to a candidate and it gave me genuine joy.