DEAR News Of The Area,

THERE’VE been quite a few comments about funding for Caz Heise’s election campaign in the Federal seat of Cowper, and about whether Independents can accomplish anything when they’re not in government.

To the first, it’s no secret that Caz Heise has received support from Climate 200, and if you go to the Climate 200 webpage, you’ll see the names of the hundreds of ordinary people who have donated to support Independents across the country.

The broad agenda is climate action and integrity in politics, but each Independent candidate has developed their own policies, based on consultations with their local communities.

When I last looked, Caz Heise had 22 separate policies, in areas ranging from health to veterans affairs.

To the second point, 20 years ago, I worked for two Independent MLAs in the Northern Territory.

Through their work, they broadened the public debate, introduced fresh solutions to problems, offered new policy ideas, proposed amendments to legislation and tabled private members bills.

They had some wins for their local communities.

And it was interesting to see that several of their ideas were adopted by the main political parties, as time passed.

These two politicians were re-elected again and again, until they retired.

Regards,
Lorraine DAVIES,
North Boambee Valley.