Dear Liberals – how to beat the teals at their own game

I was once a member of the Liberal Party. Fresh out of university and eager to get involved with a party that broadly matched my philosophy, I attended a few branch meetings, distributed how-to-vote cards on election day and lapped up the atmosphere of a state conference.

Yet, life got in the way. I felt that with career and sporting commitments, something had to give, and dedicating time to a major political party would need to give way. Some people don’t renew their party memberships because they lose faith in the direction of their party, but I suspect many equally part ways due to commitments beyond political volunteering.

Or, in most cases, they never join a party at all because they simply lack the time. Despite declining party memberships, there is undoubtedly strong interest in politics that exists in the community. The issue is barrier to entry.

The truth is that making an imprint on a political party, particularly a major party, takes work. There is the hours of volunteering, networking and keeping up appearances that rewards the most committed; however, what this inevitably means is that the individuals who ascend to pre-selection come from a narrow field of party operatives.

One only needs to look at the make up of state and federal parliament to see that the primary demographic represented is political staffers and former party presidents. Essentially, people who have spent their entire lives surrounded by like-minded individuals. What this means is that political parties, particularly the Liberals, are putting forward candidates who are not necessarily representative of the community.

That is not to say that there are not promising and meritorious candidates out there. One only needs to look to the Victorian Liberals’ candidate for Box Hill, Nicole Werner, to see that worthy individuals can rise to the top. Werner has significant experience in the non-for-profit sector, serving as Business Development Manager for one of Australia’s largest foodbanks. She has also worked as a youth worker and pastor. Her campaign has been lively and energetic.

I say this to acknowledge that both parties can and often do present candidates capable of enhancing the quality of our parliament. The issue is that the increasingly narrow field of party members in an era of declining membership makes this harder to achieve.

Which brings me to the teals. Whatever one’s view of the independent candidates who use this branding, they have tapped into an effective model to enhance community engagement and attract diverse candidates. Their method? Reaching out to the wider community for potential candidates to run in an electorate. Monique Ryan, now member for Kooyong, answered the call when Climate200 ran an ad in Melbourne’s newspapers.

What the Liberal Party should seriously consider is beating the teals at their own game. Why not open pre-selection battles up to members of the wider community? Advertise the position and invite people to put their names forward. The inevitable consequence would be people from a wider cross-section of society battling it out to represent the party. The real shame of the teal wave is that many of these individuals (doctors, lawyers, business owners, journalists) should have been able to find a home in Australia’s ‘broad church’ party.

Of course, there are obvious counter-arguments. There is a case to be made that parties live and die by the work of their volunteers. It is fair to assert that years of commitment should be rewarded. Undoubtedly, it would be unsettling for many party members to suddenly find themselves usurped by someone parachuting in from the outside. Yet the harsh reality is that interlopers have already crashed the party, winning the seat and not wearing the same colour.

If the major political parties wish to remain relevant during the coming decades, they need to find innovative responses to the disruption caused by Australians’ increasing tendency to experiment with independents and minor parties. Beating the teals at their own game should be part of the conversation.