Women have been the central story of the 2022 federal election. In today’s analysis, Jessica Lane (@iamjesslane) of Women for Australia (@Women4Aus) provides a breakdown of the election results and what lessons can be drawn from the outcome. Women for Australia supports progressive women to run for political office.

The 2022 federal election is acknowledged as nearly unprecedented due to the seismic impact that independent candidates had on the outcome. Overwhelmingly, this outcome was driven by women. Women made up the majority of the ‘teal wave’ of independents and they were also more likely to desert the established parties. The result indicates that Australians have taken the time to truly observe the inaction of the Morrison government over the past three years and have made their voices heard in collective condemnation. Australians have said a resounding ‘no’ to:

Climate inaction
Gender inequality
Corruption, rorts and waste
Cruelty towards vulnerable people
Failures in international diplomacy
Wage stagnation - Extremist and conspiratorial views
Billionaires and their attempts to control our democracy

So what are the main lessons we can take away from this election?

Community-Endorsed Independents

Since the voters of Indi elected Cathy McGowan as their community-endorsed independent candidate in 2013, the Community Independents movement has spread right throughout the country at an inspiring rate. People want an alternative to the two-party status quo. So, instead of demanding an alternative to the majors, they decided to become that alternative themselves. The movement strengthened again in 2019 with the election of Zali Steggall and with assistance and funding from the Climate 200 group.

Celebrating the teal wave of women independents who are shaking up politics as we know it. Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

In 2022, this alternative political movement hit its stride with independent candidates running for office all over the country on a platform of climate action, integrity and gender equality. These community-led campaigns led to the ousting of a number of Liberal Party ‘heartland seats’ held by so-called ‘moderate’ Liberals. Despite numerous attempts to undermine and discredit these community independents and Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes á Court, six of these independent candidates will now take their place on the federal cross bench. In doing so, they have completely transformed the political landscape of Australia overnight. This result reinforces the place for grassroots activism and enhanced community engagement, which has been lacking in our political establishment for a long time - and to their detriment.

Lessons for the Major Parties

Australians have sent a clear message to Canberra that we, as voters, will not be taken for granted any longer by the major parties. The electorate is clearly split in three parts, with one third of voters not voting for either major party. In fact, Labor will govern Australia with one of the lowest primary votes in our history. Australians have made it clear that they will no longer accept parties who neither listen to nor reflect the electorates that they represent.

The Liberal party has been left decimated by the community independents. Whether they see this result as a signal to move further to the right remains to be seen. One thing is certain: the Liberal Party’s inaction on climate and its war on women and vulnerable people has seen centrist ‘small L’ liberals and women voters leave the party in droves. How they respond to this result will largely rest on who the party chooses to lead them in opposition. If they choose Peter Dutton, it is fairly safe to assume that an unapologetic lurch to the right is all but certain.

However, the lessons of this election are not just for the Liberal Party. Whilst Labor will form government, their victory was not resounding and they were not immune to the impact of the independent candidates. Labor’s factional decision to oust a strong community-supported woman of colour, Tu Le, from her Labor candidacy in Fowler, in order to air-drop Kristina Keneally into the House of Representatives, was a colossal misstep on Labor’s part. This was reflected in the election result, which saw Fowler elect local Independent candidate Dai Le over Keneally. This is a resounding message to Labor that cultural representation and community-supported candidates should always be prioritised over factional desires.

Another lesson that Labor should take from this election is the need to move further to the left. Whilst they no doubt feel vindicated by the result, it would be remiss of them to pretend that their victory was not assisted by progressive preference flows, particularly from Greens voters. Mr Albanese has said that he would not be making deals with minor parties or independents, but the result of this election will see him doing just that. If Labor fails to learn the lessons of their Liberal counterparts’ electoral obliteration by independent candidates, they can expect the same treatment in 2025.

Anticipating the future

More than anything, this election shows that Australians have said ‘yes’ to meaningful action on climate, gender equality, integrity, refugee rights and economic liberation. However, meaningful policy solutions to these challenges were largely missing from the two major parties and the electorate has reacted to this by taking decisive action.

With this influx of independent women and progressive MPs and senators, we are likely to see a higher level of accountability and more equitable outcomes for all Australians and we welcome this change. It is our hope that independents will also campaign for meaningful action to address violence against women and children, truth in political advertising, limits on electoral spending and revisit the media ownership laws.

This post is part of the Women's Policy Action Tank initiative to analyse government policy using a gendered lens. View our other policy analysis pieces here.

The ballot box in our Federal Election series logo is courtesy of Flaticon.

Posted by @SusanMaury

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