Zoe Daniel

And when you hear independent MP these days and that description of her politics, your mind might go directly to the Teal Movement, which is a group of largely female independent MPs who traditionally won liberal seats off the back of climate-focused policies.

Think of people like Zoe Daniel, Monique Ryan, and Allegra Spender.

And Helen Haines entered parliament at the same time as Zali Steggall, who's generally considered the first teal in Australian politics.

Now, that's a bit confusing, uh, because they entered politics at the same time and their politics are quite similar, I guess.

She's a research and intelligence principal with Redbridge, which is a political consultancy and polling group.

And before joining Redbridge, Alex worked for former federal parliamentarian Zoe Daniel.

Alex was head of strategy in Daniel's 2022 campaign for the seat of Goldstein and also led on policy development.

I'd like to start the conversation by asking each of our panellists to tell us what they think is the most important point to remember in this discussion.

Just as is happening in real time in Germany with Alternative for Deutschland.

And I, and I, um, I may say just on that very quickly, I mean, Z- Zoe Daniel, who was the ABC correspondent in Washington at the time of the fir- of Trump won in 2016, I remember her doing stories in Ohio, in Michigan, in Wisconsin, saying, "This guy could win." And honestly, she was almost a lone voice.

Uh, the American media were not saying that.

Hmm.

The electoral reforms are already in place to commence from January, but there is a High Court challenge expected perhaps later this year or early next year.

The constitutional challenge is led by former independents Rex Patrick and Zoe Daniel.

It's specifically contesting aspects of the expenditure and donations caps on the grounds that they impermissibly burden the freedom of political communication.

Now, if that challenge is successful, the High Court could actually strike down the expenditure caps, possibly the donations caps and public funding too, if the court decides that these things can't be severed from each other.