Published: 18 February 2022
Last updated: 4 March 2024
The independent candidate for Wentworth tells Anne Susskind why climate action is anything but radical, vents over absent leadership and explains her views on Israel
ALLEGRA SPENDER DOESN’T pull her punches. Despite being a charming ex-Ascham head girl who smiles a lot, she’s blunt and steely when it comes to Scott Morrison’s government and the state of affairs in the world.
“I’ve had it,” she nods, agreeable on a disagreeable subject, explaining why, at the age of 43, she’s entering politics as an independent candidate for Wentworth in Sydney's eastern suburbs, up against the party of her grandfather and father, Sir Percy Spender and John Spender, who were once both Liberal ministers in a Coalition government.
Her main concerns she lists as climate change, women and integrity. It's a “deep, deep, deep frustration” she feels, and says change is needed. Real change, not just the words that the Liberal member Dave Sharma offers while he usually votes “exactly with Barnaby Joyce”.
The electorate, she says, is also “pro-refugees” and wants faster progress on reconciliation with First Nations people. As for those of Wentworth’s Jewish voters whose overriding concern is their representative’s position on Israel, Spender says she holds more or less the same pro-Israel views as Sharma and is happy with current government policy on that score.
What is going on right now does not represent what people like myself think - values of integrity, of supporting businesses but also compassion.
On the broader issues, she is speaking to disaffected Liberals all the time. They are saying, ‘You know what? I’ve hosted fundraisers for the Liberal Party and I cannot do it anymore.’ It’s amazing. It’s because they’ve said they are no longer standing for evidence-based, expert led policy… and it’s the handling of the scandals and the handling of women and the handling of integrity issues.”
Under the Morrison government, Spender says she has seen the collapse of her father and grandfather’s values: “What is going on right now does not represent what people like myself and other people I care about think - values of integrity, of supporting businesses but also compassion… the small l liberal values.” The government is listening to the nationals, not moderate liberals.
