The female independents vying for the seats of high-profile Liberal men at the next federal election – SBS

Anika Gauja, professor of politics at the University of Sydney, believes this is quite a distinctive episode.

She puts this down to the increasing number of independents declaring their candidacies earlier, evidence of a significant mobilisation in their electorates against the government and the major parties on progressive issues such as climate change. She also attributes this to the high number of women candidates.

Given the findings of the Jenkins report, this isnt terribly surprising, she said.

Australian political parties have been known for quite some time for their fairly masculine cultures, and it has been quite hostile to women and women candidates. Running as an independent offers many women an opportunity to enter politics and to do so outside that culture of mainstream party politics.

But she said this election, theres a key difference.

We have a lot of very competent, talented women running for parliament this time, but I think this is a more significant episode because they have announced their candidatures early [and] they have a well-resourced, and well-organised support group behind them.

Part of that support is donations from Climate 200, which is subject to the same disclosure regulations as the major parties. Mr Holmes Court said the group had intended to have at least 200 donors coming into the next election. At time of writing, it is set to pass 6,000 donors and $5 million in funds.

We are small fry [compared to the major parties] but we are going to focus our attention on helping these independents who are stepping up. They have their own fundraising - our job is to turbocharge them.

When asked about being surrounded by mostly women candidates, Ms Tink said she found it intriguing and exciting.

I think at the moment, we are probably the focus of attention because there are a few of us that have stepped up in quick succession. So it does look like there is this real wave, this momentum.

There is clearly no doubt that women are still very severely underrepresented when it comes to leadership roles in this country, and that includes our parliamentary roles. The reality is there is more room to step up because we haven't been there in the first place.

Showing up probably means we stand out because we are unusual in what we've seen in the past.

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The female independents vying for the seats of high-profile Liberal men at the next federal election - SBS