A page to answer some of the commonly asked questions I receive.
Are you a “teal”?
Great question, and I understand why you are asking. The media constructed the term ‘Teal’ to group together the movement of community backed independents in Australia—the first independent was in orange but some of the other early ones went with teal. I’m independent and I represent the views and unique issues of the people of Moncrieff. You’ll find the community backed independent movements across Australia share similar values of integrity, care for our climate and environment, support for diverse communities and people who are fed up with the two-party system, that’s simply not delivering for communities like ours on the Gold Coast
Are you funded by Climate 200?
Climate 200 is a collective of some 41,000 supporters across Australia, and yes, I’m pleased to have received seed funding from Climate 200 through a grant application to get this campaign up and running. We are also receiving and still seeking donations from our community to run a campaign against well established party coffers. The funds go towards printing t-shirts, flyers and corflutes, and to advertise so we can let Moncrieff residents know that in this federal election, they have a choice. Thanks to the many people who have already donated!
Who will you give your preferences to?
First things first, only you can decide where your preferences go, not me or the political parties. Political candidates will provide you with how to vote cards to try and influence how you structure your preferences to give them the most likely chance of winning. I will just have a card that reads ‘vote 1 Nicole Arrowsmith’ and leave it up to you to decide who you vote for after that. Right now I’m focused on recruiting a couple of hundred volunteers to hand something out come voting time!
Who will you do a deal with in a hung parliament?
As an independent, I’m out to get the best deal for Moncrieff. For that I’m willing to negotiate with any political party to get the job done for you. One thing is for sure, my vote in parliament would be the vote of the people of the Gold Coast, who I’d represent. It’s not a vote bound by party political lines and it won’t be taken for granted.
If need be, I’ll vote bill by bill to get the best deal for the community that chose me to run as an independent and aligns with my priorities - firstly the people of Moncrieff.
Can independents get anything done?
They sure can! All polling is showing we are going to have a minority government, or a hung parliament, which makes the cross-bench and independent MP’s really important. If elected I will negotiate hard for our fair share. Imagine if we had an independent in both Moncrieff and our neighbouring McPherson—strap yourselves in, the once forgotten underfunded Gold Coast will be front and centre.
You can also check out what current elected independents have achieved here https://www.indiewins.com.au/
Please feel free to send me any questions you have to [email protected] or come and have a chat with me and our team at one of the many events we have organised.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Nicole.
