By ANNA USHER

Warringah MP Zali Steggall has split from the teal independents and co-founded a new political party, Community Strong Australia, telling Mosman Collective the move will give Warringah the chance to “double its impact” in Canberra.

Steggall and Wentworth MP Allegra Spender launched the party on Thursday, despite most of their crossbench colleagues refusing to join them.

Calling it “an important next chapter for our community and the movement that Warringah helped build”, Steggall said Community Strong Australia will focus on cost of living, housing affordability, education, childcare, healthcare and social cohesion.

“I’ve been speaking to residents, volunteers and supporters for some time on what comes next for Warringah, and the message has been clear,” Steggall told Mosman Collective.

“We need to strengthen the movement that Warringah helped to create and provide more opportunities for everyday people, and for more communities, to have a genuine voice in Parliament.”

The leaderless party will recruit “community-backed candidates” in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, in a move designed to circumvent seat-based spending and donation caps passed by Labor and the Coalition last year.

“By running candidates in the Senate, Community Strong Australia offers Warringah the chance to double its impact in Parliament by supporting a candidate committed to practical, community-focused solutions,” Steggall said.

Considered the first of the teal independents, Ms Steggall entered the parliament at the 2019 election, unseating former prime minister Tony Abbott from his safe Liberal seat of Warringah, while Ms Spender took the blue-ribbon seat of Wentworth from now-Liberal Senator Dave Sharma in the teal-wave during the 2022 election.

The pair would not reveal whether the party had secured any major donors, but claimed Simon Holmes à Court’s Climate 200 was not involved in bankrolling the new venture.

Steggall insisted her focus would not shift. “For me, Warringah has always and will always come first,” she said. “As a member of Community Strong Australia, I’ll continue to fight for Warringah and focus on the issues that matter most to locals.”

“Warringah has been a driving force behind the success of the community independent movement, and I will continue to listen to Warringah and represent its interests as fiercely as I have done over the past seven years,” she said.

Steggall said she would also keep a free vote in Parliament. “Whilst we have the free vote, we are still nonetheless determined to work constructively together to put solutions on the table that represent our communities, but also provide that national solution and national direction,” she said.

Under Community Strong Australia’s constitution, the local group behind the movement can apply to become a recognised “Local Team.” It would remain independent rather than be folded into the party and earn a seat on a committee set up to amplify local voices.

Steggall said she would keep listening. “Over the weeks and months ahead, I’ll continue to meet residents across Warringah to hear their views so we can shape this next chapter together,” she said.

“The creation of Community Strong Australia is an opportunity for Warringah to continue leading the way,” she said, “and to help build a politics that is more connected, more accountable, more diverse and more focused on the people it serves.”

Community Strong Australia has lodged its application with the Australian Electoral Commission and expects to be registered by October.

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