{"id":55633,"date":"2021-09-08T11:43:27","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T01:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=55633"},"modified":"2021-09-08T11:44:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T01:44:48","slug":"steggall-says-no-alternative-indies-must-stand-up-for-sensible-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/steggall-says-no-alternative-indies-must-stand-up-for-sensible-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Steggall says &#8216;no alternative&#8217;: indies must stand up for sensible centre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ZALI.jpg?resize=800%2C400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-44857\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ZALI.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ZALI.jpg?resize=300%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ZALI.jpg?resize=768%2C384&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ZALI.jpg?resize=600%2C300&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption>Zali Steggall (Photo: supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/webplayer.whooshkaa.com\/player\/episode\/id\/899516?theme=light&amp;waveform-progress-color=%23FA6800&amp;play-video-if-available=true\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>Women are at the forefront of the \u2018Voices for\u2019 movement in safe Liberal seats because the Liberal Party\u2019s pre-selection process is <meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/>\u201cabsolutely patriarchal in nature\u201d according to the independent MP for Warringah, Zali Steggall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A closed-door preselection policy designed to maintain the status quo to keep women out, is how Steggall described the process in an interview on the #transitzone podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think women have had enough, and personally, as a professional woman, I&#8217;m not going to wait to be tapped on the shoulder. I was very willing to put myself forward to be an independent and to give my constituents that choice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Steggall, who soundly defeated Tony Abbott at the 2019 federal election in the blue-ribbon Liberal seat, said the Coalition\u2019s refusal to act on climate change had seen \u2018Voices for<meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/>\u2019 community groups rise up to seek an independent alternative in safe Coalition seats, and urged successful professionals of integrity to offer themselves as candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy call to professionals out there, no matter what your field of expertise or what your career has been, if you are in a position to give back I urge you to consider running in politics to give back to your community, to be a voice for reason and for sound governance to ensure your children and your grandchildren&#8217;s future is safeguarded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ms Steggall stood for election after being assured of support by volunteers on the ground, something that \u2018Voices for\u2019 groups now offer in other safe seats. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/turnbull-takes-to-liberalisms-lifeboat-as-lnp-broad-church-blows-up-margo-kingston-reports-on-independentsday\/&amp;sa=D&amp;source=editors&amp;ust=1630934891278000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3aEqQ8vycLpt7hJJ_qBV1n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently identified<\/a>&nbsp;these Sydney electorates as Mackellar, North Sydney and Bradfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd of course the incumbent Liberals are all complaining that this is a move by &#8211; they made these allegations that this must be coming from the left &#8211; but the reality is there is no alternative,<meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/>\u201d Stegall said. <meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/>\u201cThe Liberal Party has moved so far to the right (that) there is no one representing the sensible centre, and that&#8217;s where the independents come in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said recent Liberal Party demands that the Australian Electoral Commission investigate \u2018Voices for\u2019 groups was \u201cjust desperation because they know they are under threat\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt shows how disconnected they are from their communities, because it ignores the fact that these groups are from their very communities. So the more they disrespect and disregard these groups and try to label them as something else the more they actually galvanize those groups to get rid of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/transcript-of-the-transitzone-podcast-interview-with-zali-steggall-on-thursday-2-september-2021-lightly-edited-for-clarity\/\"><em>Interview transcript<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Women are at the forefront of the \u2018Voices for\u2019 movement in safe Liberal seats because the Liberal Party\u2019s pre-selection process is \u201cabsolutely patriarchal in nature\u201d according to the independent MP for Warringah, Zali Steggall. A closed-door preselection policy designed to maintain the status quo to keep women out, is how Steggall described the process in [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":44857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3434,2969,3480,3330,3402,3386,3493,3302,651,585,75,26,3358],"tags":[802,3336,3477,3479,3515,3516,3298,168,2615,2598,2565,3371,3451],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ZALI.jpg?fit=800%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3t0mw-etj","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55633"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55661,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55633\/revisions\/55661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}