An admiral idea: vote independent and help fight climate change

Support for NSW’s swathe of independent candidates has come from the usual suspects: climate scientists, integrity campaigners and the fed-up middle-aged (my people). But when a member of the armed forces tells you to vote for Zali Steggall, Kylea Tink and Allegra Spender — that gets my attention. 

And not just any serviceman. In the middle of a fuel security conference in Sydney yesterday, retired head of the Australian Defence Force Admiral Chris Barrie took off the safety catch and let fly about the current state of federal politics. 

Still ramrod-straight at 76, the Vietnam veteran urged listeners to vote for independent candidates, saying that this was the most important election of his lifetime. 

“I think that voters throughout Australia must take responsibility for how they cast their vote. If the next Parliament fails to grapple with climate change effectively, we will not have the opportunity in 2025 to recover from this dire situation. 

“Moreover, the legacy we will leave for future generations of Australians will be an ugly one, and there is no one we can blame for this but ourselves.”

Speaking at the Smart Energy Council’s Emergency Fuel Summit in Sydney, the retired admiral said that climate change was our single biggest threat.

“We consider that climate change now represents the greatest threat to the future and security of Australia,” Barrie said.

“Dealing with climate change is a very significant security issue. It is in this context that I would argue the first responsibility of government is towards the security of the people,” he said.

Also speaking at the conference, Allegra Spender, the independent candidate for Sydney’s Wentworth, said that because 90% of Australia’s fuel was imported, we had only “a handful of days’” supply of fuel. The war in Ukraine and recent changes in the Pacific have made us very vulnerable, she said.   

After that bracing encounter, it was off to the Sydney Cricket Ground for the Sky News “people’s forum” with Spender and her Liberal opponent, Dave Sharma, who holds the seat on a margin of 1.3%. 

The forum, in which both candidates took questions from a hand-picked audience of “undecided voters”, was fascinating. I don’t know if Sky News had vetted the queries or if the voters of Wentworth are unusually insightful, but the standard was way above the usual nitpicking about development (a state issue) or immigration (coded racism). 

A question about the two candidates’ uptake of solar panels and electric vehicles (EVs) yielded insights into their personal lives. Neither has solar panels — Sharma because he lives in a terrace house and Spender because her apartment has “strata issues”. 

Sharma said he has one government-supplied car and a 125cc Vespa; Spender said that she has a hybrid car, not an EV, because she doesn’t have a garage in which to put the charger. With 60% of the residents in Wentworth living in apartment blocks, access to chargers is a major stumbling block to the uptake of EVs, she said. 

In fact, Wentworth has the highest number of Teslas and Range Rovers in the country, Sharma said, in news that will be of no surprise to anyone who has tried to drive along New South Head Road during school pick-up. 

Another good question came from a woman named Michelle, who pointed out that with two competent, moderate candidates, it was a shame that only one of them would be getting into Parliament. She’s right — in so many electorates, we have a Hobson’s choice between 1) Union Official and Friend of Bill’s and 2) Party Hack Who Has Never Had a Real Job — you just vote for the least offensive. But here in Wentworth, they have two highly educated candidates who have had proper jobs and actually seem like they have something to contribute.

Even the third candidate, Labor’s Tim Murray, is a thoroughly decent bloke who speaks fluent Mandarin, works as an investment analyst and campaigns for affordable housing and public education. 

As befitting the occasion, the two candidates were very polite to each other, the knives only coming out when someone asked Spender which side of politics she would support in the event of a hung Parliament. 

“I haven’t made up my mind,” she said. “It depends what happens at the negotiating table [on] the day.”

“I’m open to work with either side of government.”

This infuriated Sharma, who visibly stiffened. “If you’re not being upfront with the electorate now and telling them which party you’re going to support, I think you’re being dishonest with them. I think you owe it to the public to tell them,” he snapped. 

Asked about Zali Steggall’s comment that she would find it easier to support a Liberal Party without Scott Morrison at the helm, Spender tactfully replied, “I’ve never met Scott Morrison, I’ve never had any dealings with him”. 

Which reminded me of Gareth Evans’ joke about why people took an instant dislike to Bronwyn Bishop — because it “saved time”. 

There are four weeks and one day ’til polling day, which means we are about to approach the mid-campaign slump. Those women in teal T-shirts are great, but it could be time for the campaigns to man up and bring on Admiral Barrie, ordering us: “Vote for independents, or else.” Aye, aye, sir.