Simon Holmes à Court co-founded Climate 200, an initiative to support progressive independents which saw six teals, as they have become known, elected at the last Federal election. It has since been turning its attention to State elections. I spoke to Simon on Friday morning.

Fitz: Simon, I confess my surprise. I thought the teals were going to take their stunning form in the Federal election right into the Victorian election and take at least four seats. But right now you’ve got – dot three, carry one, subtract two – none. So, is it fair to say that rumours of the death of the teal movement, at least in Victoria, have not been greatly exaggerated?

Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes a Court.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

SHaC: (Five second pause.) Parliament and pundits deal in binaries: win or lose. But we were really encouraged that in Victoria there were six independent women who came within a couple of per cent of winning. The movement in metropolitan Melbourne is less than a year old, and in most cases got within a few hundred votes of toppling members of a 78-year-old party. Plus, Victoria gives very significant public funding to incumbents – The Age says about $100 million over the last four years – but nothing to challengers.

Fitz: Yup. But in the Fair Dinkum Department can you say out loud our results were deeply disappointing?

SHaC: It would have been incredible if two, three, four or five independents got up, but they didn’t. So yeah, it’s disappointing.

Fitz: Does it show that, without a really unpopular conservative figure like Scott Morrison in the leadership role to concentrate the minds and loosen the wallet of your progressive followers, it’s much harder going?

Former prime minister Scott Morrison.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

SHaC: It’s certainly a lot harder. In the Federal electorates where indies won, there was palpable disgust with Morrison and frustration with his government’s failures on climate, integrity and women. Plenty of people don’t love Dan Andrews or Matthew Guy, but neither leader motivated communities like the prospect of another three years of Morrison-Joyce government. And to the Victorian Liberals’ credit, they got the memo after the Federal election. Just a few years ago they opposed Victorian Labor’s climate targets, and entertained the Nationals’ plans to build a new coal power station in the Latrobe Valley. Fast forward to 2022 and, just weeks after the Libs were smashed at the Federal election, the state Libs got some “Matt Kean religion” and matched Labor on climate. Labor responded by further upping their targets. I credit the success of the independents in May with changing the whole debate.

Fitz: You turned the Vic Libs into “virtue signallers”! More seriously, your critics portray you as a louche layabout spending your father’s billions to destroy democracy by pushing your puerile politics on the people. Now I suspect that might be a tad ... overstated, but what is your day job anyway? Is there a place where you turn up for work on a Monday morning and say, “Good morning, boss?”