Is the UK Missing a Community-Strong Outlook?
By Noah Ralphs
Australian politics is not too dissimilar at the moment to British politics. Labour is in power, led by a charismatic communicator with strong majorities in the lower house. Both are facing an immediate threat from the extreme right by leaders who have been around for decades, in our debates, news programming and even reality TV shows. Finally, both are watching their traditional conservative rival struggle as their traditional base is increasingly being torn apart by these insurgent parties. As such, it could be said that there are very few differences between the political situation in Australia and the UK.
While this is largely true, in Sydney’s Northern Beaches we have seen an increasingly unique phenomenon over the last few years. The colour teal is often associated with high-end Marks & Spencer fabric worn specifically to tea at the Ivy on a nice summer day. In Australia, the colour teal has come to represent a political movement that might create the solution to stopping populists and strongmen in politics [1].
The Teal movement, or Community Independent movement, started as a grassroots movement from those in the community who are altruistic towards others, rejecting populism, respectful of aspiration while looking out for the environment we all live on. It’s a progressive movement of talent that defines traditional political roadblocks to representation, such as party control and ideology. It is a politically transparent movement that wants to do away with lobbyists and cronyism and put first the communities of Manly, Warriewood, Wentworth, Kooyong and many more, including Australia at large. The movement is made up mainly of independent MPs who have broadly similar views and values and vote according to their community’s desire and evidence-based rationale.
The Community movement is not just isolated to Australia; across the water in New Zealand, Opportunity NZ is an evidence-based centrist party that has gained significant support under new leader Qiulae Wong. Its main policies are to boost renewable energy initiatives and replace many state welfare benefits with a citizen’s income and a land value tax. With an election in New Zealand expected in November, it will be interesting to watch how this new type of centrism does amongst the public and if they will buy into this new radical form of centrism.
It would be somewhat unjust not to recognise there aren’t clear differences between the Community independents and Opportunity NZ. Firstly, Opportunity NZ is a party, while only two MPs of the Teal movement are involved presently with the new Community Strong Australia party. However, the sentiments are similar, and their ideas are both bold and hold a high degree of common sense. There is, in particular, a high degree of emphasis on looking after the environment not just to conserve and protect this beautiful planet we all live on but also to increase the health and wellbeing’s of others.
Circling back to the Teal movement in Australia. One of the most notable attributes of this new movement is its ability to win, particularly against well-established political figures. In 2019, former winter Olympian Zali Stegall won the seat of Warringah, beating former PM and right-wing hawk of the Liberal Party Tony Abbott. Tony Abbott was a strongman and a climate sceptic as well as one of the big names on the right of the Liberal Party. His defeat was momentous and started a movement and a series of successes for the Community movement.
In the 2022 general election, PM Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party lost his parliamentary majority and, by extension, his Prime Ministership to the hands of Labour largely thanks to community independents in cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. Community independent Monique Ryan even won the seat of Kooyong held by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who was largely expected to lead the party postmortem for the Liberal Party.
More recent results for Community Independents have become a bit more unstuck. While its community-based messaging was able to beat quasi-populist suburban men such as Abbott and Morrison, it is yet to be seen if it can stand up to more extreme right-wing populism being sprouted by Pauline Hanson. Its first contest in the rural seat of Farrer led to a defeat as the party failed to connect strongly enough with rural constituents.
This brings me back to the UK. Communitarianism has largely become an adopted policy by the Labour and Conservative parties since 2024. This is a rejection of the neoliberal consensus and individualistic agenda espoused by both parties over the last few decades. Kemi Badenoch’s focus on small business and Shabana Mahmood’s revival of the high street messaging are examples of this. It is an impactful message, as in my experience, those who are more engaged in local community engagement and spirit are less likely to vote for right-wing parties. This is because those with a stake in their local communities understand ultimately that their community is meant for everyone and create more of a universal solidarity spirit instead of the division of right-wing parties. Therefore, if mainstream political parties are already adopting policies aligned with Community Independent movements and with the rise of Reform, which threatens to increase political polarisation within the UK, one can only conclude that a community-based independent movement would be very successful within the United Kingdom.
The community independents movement is led by individuals from the community to represent all. It represents the culmination of a failure on the part of neoliberalism; the diverse and strong communities we live in want to address the key and most pressing issues of our age. The movement is growing in Australia and New Zealand, and increasingly the space for a similar party within the UK continues to present itself.
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