Climate 200

Climate 200 Pty Ltd

File:Climate 200 Logo.png Logo
Industry	Political Funding
Founded	2019 (2019)
Founder	Simon Holmes à Court
Headquarters	Potts Point, New South Wales
Key people	Simon Holmes à Court (Convenor)
Products	Teal independents
Website	www.climate200.com.au

Climate 200 Pty Ltd is an Australian company that provides political funding. It describes itself as a "community crowdfunding initiative" that supports community-backed independents to stand for election to advance climate policy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the country and limit climate change in Australia. Its convener told the ABC that the backed candidates "have a shared philosophy on climate change, integrity and gender equity."

The candidates are colloquially grouped by the media as the teal independents, reflecting the campaign colour chosen by some (but not all) of its candidates. The colour teal has been explained as indicating their policies are "a shade between blue Liberal and green".

Background

The convenor of Climate 200 is Simon Holmes à Court, who was formerly a part of Josh Frydenberg's fundraising group, the Kooyong 200.

With a background in renewable energy and climate policy, Holmes à Court wrote an article in 2018 that was critical of the Coalition's efforts to keep coal fired power stations open. Holmes à Court was thrown out of Frydenberg's group within 24 hours after the article was released, but this gave him an insight into major fundraising for campaigns.

Election campaigns

2019 federal election

In the lead-up to the 2019 federal election the group raised over $500,000.

2022 federal election

For the 2022 federal election, the group provided funding for twenty-three candidates who were either independent or running for minor parties, including most of the teal independents. Some of these candidates were also endorsed by Voices groups. They also endorsed additional "values-aligned candidates" without funding them.

The focus of the group was to get more people on the crossbench who aimed to strengthen climate policy and the functioning of parliament.

The group announced a number of high-profile former MPs to join their advisory panel from across the political spectrum.

In October 2021 the group announced that they had raised $2 million in 6 weeks. By December 2021 that had grown to $6.5 million from 6,750 donors. The group also conducted polling in some of the seats that they planned to support.

Funded candidates

Candidate	State	Electorate	Successful?	Incumbent Party
David Pocock	ACT	ACT (Senate)	Yes		Various
Kim Rubenstein			No
Jo Dyer	SA	Boothby	No		Liberal
Nicolette Boele	NSW	Bradfield	Yes		Liberal
Kate Hook	NSW	Calare	No		National
Claire Ferres Miles	Vic	Casey	No		Liberal
Andrew Wilkie	Tas	Clark	Yes		Independent
Caz Heise	NSW	Cowper	No		National
Kate Chaney	WA	Curtin	Yes		Liberal
Despi O'Connor	Vic	Flinders	No		Liberal
Zoe Daniel	Vic	Goldstein	Yes		Liberal
Liz Habermann	SA	Grey	No		Liberal
Georgia Steele	NSW	Hughes	No		United Australia
Helen Haines	Vic	Indi	Yes		Independent
Monique Ryan	Vic	Kooyong	Yes		Liberal
Sophie Scamps	NSW	Mackellar	Yes		Liberal
Rebekha Sharkie	SA	Mayo	Yes		Centre Alliance
Kylea Tink	NSW	North Sydney	Yes		Liberal
Hanabeth Luke	NSW	Page	No		National
Leanne Minshull	Tas	Tasmania (Senate)	No		Various
Alex Dyson	Vic	Wannon	No		Liberal
Zali Steggall	NSW	Warringah	Yes		Independent
Allegra Spender	NSW	Wentworth	Yes		Liberal

2022 Victorian state election

Climate 200 announced their support for a number of independent candidates in the Victorian state election. The candidates were Kate Lardner for Mornington, Melissa Lowe for Hawthorn, Sophie Torney for Kew, and Nomi Kaltmann for Caulfield. No independents won seats at the election, with all incumbent independents being defeated.

Legislative Assembly

Candidate	District	Incumbent party		% 1st pref.	% 2CP	Elected	Colours
Sarah Fenton	Bellarine		Labor	4.58%	—	No
Jacqui Hawkins	Benambra		Liberal	31.70%	49.06%	No
Felicity Frederico	Brighton		Liberal	9.10%	—	No
Nomi Kaltmann	Caulfield		Liberal	6.50%	—	No
Melissa Lowe	Hawthorn		Labor	19.98%	—	No
Sophie Torney	Kew		Liberal	21.10%	—	No
Kate Lardner	Mornington		Liberal	22.42%	49.30%	No
Clarke Martin	Sandringham		Liberal	6.91%	—	No

2023 NSW state election

Further information: 2023 New South Wales state election

Legislative Assembly

Candidate	Division	Incumbent party		% 1st pref.	% 2CP	Elected	Colours	Climate 200 Pty Ltd & Holmes à Court Donations
Victoria Davidson	Lane Cove		Liberal	20.38%	—	No		$9,891.50
Joeline Hackman	Manly		Liberal	27.19%	45.15%	No		$9,850.00
Helen Conway	North Shore		Liberal	21.85%	44.31%	No		$9,891.50
Jacqui Scruby	Pittwater		Liberal	35.86%	49.34%	No		$9,886.00
Karen Freyer	Vaucluse		Liberal	17.06%	37.12%	No		$0.00
Judith Hannan	Wollondilly		Liberal	25.94%	51.52%	Yes		$3,285.70
Alex Greenwich	Sydney		Independent	41.1%	65.6%	Yes		$3,000.00

In total Climate 200 Pty Ltd together with Simon and Karina Holmes a Court directly donated $45,804.70 to six candidates between 1 October 2022 and 25 March 2023. The total individual donations to Climate 200 Pty Ltd during the campaign were $166,665.59 of which $49,727.28 originated from individuals not enrolled to vote in New South Wales.

Legislative Council

Candidate	% 1st pref.	Elected	Colours
Elizabeth Farrelly	1.32%	No

2024 NSW state by-elections

Legislative Assembly

Candidate	Division	Incumbent party		% 1st pref.	% 2CP	Elected	Colours	Climate 200 Pty Ltd & Holmes à Court Donations
Jacqui Scruby	Pittwater		Liberal	54.17%	55.94%	Yes

Reception

Climate 200 is a fund that distributes resources to its chosen candidates; however, there are some who claim that it is a political party. Holmes à Court rejected this notion in a February 2022 National Press Club address. He says that the money that the candidates receive have no strings attached and Climate 200 has no control over them. In September 2021, Senator Andrew Bragg wrote to the Australian Electoral Commission to ask them to ensure that group were fulfilling all the requirements for disclosures for political donations. In December 2021, the federal parliament passed a law to require "significant third parties" to register if they spend more than $250,000 on electoral expenditure in a year.

Some news organisations have expressed a view that Climate 200 is a vehicle for people opposed to the Liberal Party to defeat it in seats that are unwinnable by the Australian Labor Party. The Australian Financial Review in February 2022 described Climate 200 as "an anti-Liberal Party fundraising vehicle controlled by renewable-energy advocate Simon Holmes à Court [which is running] Independents funded by Mr Holmes à Court ... in about 20 Liberal-held seats...". Antony Green, ABC chief elections analyst, stated in April 2022 that these independents are running in "winnable seats ... but these are seats that Labor would never win, the Greens wouldn't win — these are safe Liberal seats."

There were 22 candidates supported by Climate 200 at the 2022 Australian Federal Election. 15 contested Coalition incumbents, 3 were independents who held previously Liberal held seats, and 2 were senate candidates in the ACT where they contested the seat then held by Zed Seselja. Wilkie and Leanne Minshull, an independent Senate candidate in Tasmania, were the only two that not directly contesting Coalition held seats. Independents with similar platforms to those endorsed by Climate 200 who ran in Labor held seats, such as Sarina Kilham in Grayndler held by Anthony Albanese, Leader of the Labor Party, were not endorsed. Jo Dyer, the supported candidate in Boothby, a Liberal seat indicated she would support a Labor minority government, and Dr Monique Ryan, the supported candidate in Kooyong, then held by Josh Frydenberg, is a former Labor member.

People involved

Advisors

• Julia Banks
• John Hewson
• Barry Jones
• Meg Lees
• Rob Oakeshott
• Tony Windsor
• Jim Middleton

Notable donors

• Simon Holmes à Court
• Mike Cannon-Brookes
• Naomi Milgrom and family

External links

• Official website