- France mourns Mayotte victims amid uncertainy over government
- UK economy stagnant in third quarter in fresh setback
- Sweden says China denied request for prosecutors to probe ship linked to cut undersea cables
- African players in Europe: Salah leads Golden Boot race after brace
- Global stock markets edge higher as US inflation eases rate fears
- German far-right AfD to march in city hit by Christmas market attack
- Ireland centre Henshaw signs IRFU contract extension
- Bangladesh launches $5bn graft probe into Hasina's family
- US probes China chip industry on 'anticompetitive' concerns
- Biden commutes sentences for 37 of 40 federal death row inmates
- Clock ticks down on France government nomination
- 'Devastated' Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Mozambique on edge as judges rule on disputed election
- Mobile cinema brings Tunisians big screen experience
- Philippines says to acquire US Typhon missile system
- Honda and Nissan to launch merger talks
- Police arrest suspect who set woman on fire in New York subway
- China vows 'cooperation' over ship linked to severed Baltic Sea cables
- Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate fears
- Luxury Western goods line Russian stores, three years into sanctions
- Wallace and Gromit return with comic warning about AI dystopia
- Philippine military says will acquire US Typhon missile system
- Afghan bread, the humble centrepiece of every meal
- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- 'Draconian' Vietnam internet law heightens free speech fears
- Israeli women mobilise against ultra-Orthodox military exemptions
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Tens of thousands protest in Serbian capital over fatal train station accident
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- Daniels throws five TDs as Commanders down Eagles, Lions and Vikings win
- 'Who's next?': Misinformation and online threats after US CEO slaying
- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- Telomir Pharmaceuticals Confirms Copper Binding Capabilities of Telomir-1 and Expands Pipeline Into Wilson's Disease
- Datametrex Cancels RSUS
- South Star Battery Metals Announces Upsize of Non-Brokered Private Placement to Raise Up to US$3.20M, Extends Closing and Amended and Restated Stream Agreement
- Brightline Interactive Successfully Delivers A Scalable Immersive Simulation To A Global Government Service Integrator, Positioning Itself As A Leading Operating System For Processing And Visualizing Complex Information In 3D Space
- Urb NM is Named "Fastest Growing" Marijuana Brand in New Mexico
- Alset AI Broadens Investment Policy to Embrace Decentralized AI, Quantum AI, Quantum Computing, and Cryptocurrency Opportunities
- Strawberry Fields REIT Enters Into Agreement for Six Healthcare Facilities Located in Kansas
- NanoViricides is in a Great Position to Fight Potential Bird Flu Pandemic with a Drug that the Mercurial H5N1 Influenza A Virus is Unlikely to Escape
- Zomedica Launches Two New Quantitative Assays on the TRUFORMA(R) Platform: Canine NT-proBNP and Progesterone
- MainStreetChamber Holdings, Inc. Submits 15(c)211 Application
- InterContinental Hotels Group PLC Announces Transaction in Own Shares - December 23
- Melrose Group Publicly Files Complaint to the Ontario Securities Commission
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin to talk gas deliveries
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
Climate fight rages in rich Australian suburbs
In a land struck by ferocious bushfires and floods, Australian voters frustrated by climate inaction are flocking to a band of right-leaning green-minded independents, threatening to flip a string of conservative strongholds from blue to "teal".
More than 20 candidates -- highly qualified, well financed and mostly women -- are barnstorming some of Australia's wealthiest suburbs ahead of Saturday's election, aiming to snatch parliamentary seats held by ruling conservatives for generations.
Polls indicate these "teal" independents -- somewhere between conservative blue and environmental green on the political spectrum -- could not just win seats, but hold the balance of power in a hung parliament.
Among the districts up for grabs are those previously held by four conservative Liberal Party prime ministers and the district of current Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who is seen as a possible future party leader and prime minister.
More than 17 million voters are registered for the May 21 polls, which will choose all 151 seats in the lower chamber and 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate.
The independents are sticking a dagger into the conservatives' exposed flank on the climate and other major concerns such as corruption and the treatment of women in government.
Australia's 2019-2020 "Black Summer" bushfires and subsequent east coast floods highlighted the deadly and catastrophic consequences of climate change.
But Morrison's Liberal-National coalition backs coal mining and burning into the distant future, and has resisted calls to cut carbon emissions from 2005 levels faster than its current commitment of up to 28 percent by 2030.
The government has also failed to deliver a promised federal anti-corruption watchdog.
Analysts say the climate is a national concern but is more likely to sway votes in leafy suburban seats where people feel no threat from a cut to mining jobs.
Some conservative voters feel they have been "left in the wilderness" by the Liberal Party's drift to the right, said Zoe Daniel, a former ABC journalist turned independent who is now a front-runner in the polls in the wealthy Melbourne seat of Goldstein.
- 'Powerful influences' -
A YouGov poll published May 11 put Daniel slightly ahead of the incumbent Liberal Party member for Goldstein, Tim Wilson.
The "umbrella issue" for voters is integrity, Daniel told AFP, not just the need for a federal anti-corruption watchdog but also transparency in spending taxpayers' money and political donations.
That spills over into other issues such as the climate, said Daniel, who supports a 60-percent cut in carbon emissions by 2030, far more than the government or opposition Labor Party.
"I think the penny has started to drop for people that there are powerful influences in the background and that's why our climate policy looks the way it does," she said.
It is no secret that the Liberal Party has close links to the mining industry, said Paul Williams, associate professor at Griffith University. "And the mining industry is Australia's most powerful lobby group."
Labor, which relies on support from unions including those representing mine workers, has proposed a 43-percent cut in carbon pollution by 2030.
Monique Ryan, another independent favouring climate action and clean politics, led treasurer Frydenberg in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong, the survey indicated.
Once a safe Liberal Party seat, Kooyong is also the former constituency of Australia's longest-serving prime minister, the late Robert Menzies.
- Close fight -
Allegra Spender, another "teal" independent candidate in Wentworth -- a rich beachside Sydney suburb that includes Bondi Beach -- is also in a close fight, surveys indicate, with moderate Liberal Party member Dave Sharma.
Spender, like Ryan and Daniel, is among 22 independents who have secured campaign financing from Climate 200, a fund set up by activist-philanthropist Simon Holmes a Court.
In the case of a hung parliament, just a few independents could wield some influence on national policy.
Independent candidates have already helped to elevate issues such as the climate and integrity, said Daniel.
"Independents have changed the national conversation because they are able to raise hard issues that won't necessarily be popular."
P.M.Smith--AMWN