Independent MPs Allegra Spender and Zali Steggall have formed a new Community Strong Australia party, promising voters a grassroots alternative to established political forces.
The centrist party offers a new outlet for both MPs’ outspoken views on small business, startups and tax policy, but its charter suggests conflicting views may be welcome.
Four years after the teal-tinged 2022 federal election, Spender and Steggall on Tuesday confirmed weeks of rumors by announcing plans to join forces.
In a statement, Steggall said the party intended to develop policies based on local community needs and expert knowledge.
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“The independent community movement has shown what is possible when people come together around shared values and practical solutions,” he said.
“Community Strong Australia is about extending that opportunity to more Australians.”
Spender said Australia’s success was “built from the communities up, and that’s where politics needs to come back”.
Steggall’s focus on small businesses
Community Strong Australia is still subject to registration by the Australian Electoral Commission, with no hard and fast political platforms to accompany its announcement.
But the party broadly supports “thriving businesses,” “intergenerational justice” and “guardrails” around artificial intelligence and technology, according to its website.
Both Spender and Steggall are outspoken about the issues facing small businesses and the startup community.
Steggall has been calling for the instant asset write-off limit to be expanded to $30,000policy that was finally adopted, and permanent factin the federal government’s 2026-27 budget.
The Warringah MP also called on the government to adopt an expanded definition of small business and called for small businesses to face less red tape through tranches of industrial relations reform.
Steggall was also outspoken about the capital gains tax reforms contained in the federal budget documents.
Speaking to the House of Representatives earlier this month, Steggall said the government was pushing for reform “without providing the model, the evidence, the consultation needed to understand its full impact, or the clear information about how small businesses will be defined, what exceptions will be negotiated or who will be affected in the end.”
“This is not how an important tax reform is carried out that is lasting or that has license and social consensus,” he added.
Spender at the forefront of the tax debate
For her part, Spender, who previously served as CEO of the lauded Australian fashion brand Carla ZampattiHe is a leading advocate of tax reform.
Wentworth’s 2024 “green paper” member made one of the first arguments for a holistic review of Australia’s tax system, and the subsequent “white paper”, published in March, Arguing that workers bear too much tax burden..
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Even as the 2026-27 federal budget takes steps to change the way passive investment income is taxed, Spender herself took issue with plans to sell business assets in the same way as real estate.
“At a time when we are striving to generate prosperity and increase our productivity, we must be very cautious about changes that could affect productive risk-taking and we must carefully weigh the costs and benefits and ask if there is a better way to do it,” he said.
Both Steggall and Spender ultimately voted against the bill. in the House of Representatives, which, however, was approved by the Lower House, with a Labor majority.
In the days since the first tranche of budget reforms reached the Senate, Spender also introduced a private member’s bill that would prevent large businesses from competing for government contracts if they consistently delay payment to their small business suppliers.
Free vote for future members.
While Community Strong Australia’s founding members have championed small business prospects in Parliament, the party’s founding documents suggest future members would be free to express their own opinion.
Its deputies and senators “will have a free vote in all parliamentary votes except those relating to
motions on confidence and supply”, as long as they adhere to their ‘political pillars’ listed in the party’s statutes.
These include:
- sound economic management,
- climate action,
- equality,
- integrity.
This could open the door for future party members to support different policies than the party’s founding members.
While the party is still in its infancy, it has already attracted some supporters from the small business sector.
in a LinkedIn post Making light of the similarity of the party’s name to his own, Peter Strong, former chief executive of the Council of Small Business Organizations of Australia, gave an early seal of approval.
“I hope they get a lot of votes,” he wrote.
Smart Company Spender has been contacted for comment.