Jo Dyer wants to fix Australia's crisis of political leadership

Jo Dyer wants to fix Australia’s crisis of political leadership

Jo Dyer

Jo Dyer believes Australia is facing a crisis of political leadership. It’s a conclusion she’s come to after a very personal experience of dealing with the current federal government.

In 2021, Dyer shot to national attention as an advocate for her late friend Kate, who had brought allegations of rape against then Attorney-General Christian Porter. (Porter has categorically denied the allegations).

“I was experiencing very personally the way that the government closes ranks around its own, and always favours the word of its own, above anyone else, particularly people who might be challenging them,” Dyer told Women’s Agenda recently.

The arts executive and Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week is now standing as an independent candidate at the upcoming federal election in the South Australian seat of Boothby. It’s one of the most marginal Liberal-held seats in the country.

Dyer is passionate about climate action and the need for greater integrity, transparency, and accountability in politics, and believes the two-party system is no longer – and never really was – fit for purpose.

She’s recently published a book on the topic, titled Burning Down the House: Reconstructing Modern Politics, that closely examines the rise of the independent movement.

“The way our politics is being practised is not good enough. And right now, there’s an alternative that’s emerging that could tackle the duopoly in a different way,” Dyer says.

“It’s driven by policy and the passion of individuals to represent their communities.”

Jo Dyer, independent candidate for Boothby

Dyer shares that witnessing the toxic and misogynistic culture of parliament over the course of last year propelled her to act, and she thinks it may have been a contributing factor for many of the other female independent candidates running at the election.

“Women were not being treated with respect and not treated equally, their voices being ignored, or actively sought to be silenced in some cases,” she said. “That frustration was palpable throughout the course of 2021 and that rage was galvanised and it’s being turned into something productive.”

“In the Liberal and National parties, they don’t preselect many women. You can see that in the make-up of their caucuses in parliament. The Labor party does much better with their quotas, but nonetheless getting involved in the party and ultimately seeking preselection is still a very challenging one. Most people don’t want to spend their time dealing with that intra-party-political fighting.”

Looking ahead to the election, the date of which is set to be called by the Prime Minister any day now, Dyer says if just two or three more climate and integrity focused independents are elected, the way politics is done in this country will change.

“If the independents hold the balance of power, everything can change,” she said. “I know that sounds a bit hyperbolic, but the key thing to me that could happen very quickly is the establishment of a meaningful national integrity commission with very robust powers – like the one proposed by Helen Haines.”

In the three years since the last election, the Morrison government has not introduced a federal integrity commission (despite it being an election promise). It has only produced an ‘exposure draft’ that has been broadly criticised by legal and integrity experts.

In Boothby, Dyer says there’s a great deal of cynicism among voters about the government’s pre-election promises, “as well as the pork barrelling that goes on”. She also says voters in the electorate are concerned about climate inaction, health, cost of living and intergeneration inequity.

“We have coastal communities dealing with erosion, the Adelaide hills are very vulnerable to bushfires, and we are one of the six most likely regions in the country to experience severe flooding.”

“We are living through the worst of leadership, and we deserve better.”

Jo Dyer campaigning in Boothby

Dyer says the need to do something different this election feels “so great”, and the rise of the independent movement means that she felt she could contribute in a way that was meaningful.

“If two or three more independents are elected, the Liberal party will have to regroup and reconsider its policies within a centrist Australian society. That will be beneficial for all of us.”

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