Liberals haven’t learnt their lesson in moderate seats: Chaney

A hung parliament isn’t so bad

In Chaney’s ideal world, the teals would have held the balance of power in the lower house following the 2022 election, but Labor’s surge in Western Australia snatched that from them.

The teals’ goal will be to achieve a hung parliament at next year’s election to force any major party hopeful of forming government into meaningful policy compromises – particularly around political integrity and climate change ambitions.

The last hung parliament occurred in 2013 when Labor successfully formed a minority government with the Greens and independents, but the country was subjected to significant political turbulence.

Chaney rubbished suggestions a hung parliament was a bad thing and said the teals would be a force for good policy and legislation.

“I think the crossbench in this Parliament has shown that we and I are interested in the long-term interests of the country,” she said.

“A crossbench can be a moderating influence, rather than creating the chaos and uncertainty that we get warned about.

“There’s no doubt that I and my crossbench colleagues have had a greater ability to influence policy than we would have if we were Liberal Party backbenchers at this point.”

Donations and tax

Two policy areas that interest Chaney were tax reforms to alleviate personal income tax burdens and political donations.

Tax reform is a longer-term issue that Chaney said needed a mature approach that was severely lacking.

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She hinted GST and corporate tax rates should be looked at, but declined to comment further over fears of causing a political storm.

“What happens is every time that turns into a debate about one particular piece of the tax puzzle, and scare campaigns are out there, and then we end up in this rule-in, rule-out game rather than actually looking at what the whole picture needs to look like,” she said.

“Everything should be on the table with tax, and we can’t have this situation where it’s taboo to even talk about parts of our tax system.”

Donation reforms are less contentious, and Chaney criticised the Albanese government for dragging its feet on proposed legislation.

She collected more than $1 million during her campaign, with several significant contributions from climate-independent backers Climate 200.

She has received more than $70,000 in donations since winning her seat.

Chaney has disclosed donations on her website in real-time since beginning her campaign and has continued to do so.

She said every MP should be doing the same.

“It’s not hard and there’s really no reason not to do it,” she said.

“There is a majority in both houses that would support transparency now, and that legislation could be passed now in time for the next election.

“I think it’s very difficult to mount an argument for why that’s not happening.”

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