Two Australian independent MPs have formally launched Community Strong Australia, a new centrist political party they say is designed to counter rising division and offer voters an alternative to the country's traditional two-party system. Sydney MPs Zali Steggall, who holds the seat of Warringah, and Allegra Spender, from the eastern Sydney electorate of Wentworth, unveiled the party in Canberra on Thursday, describing it as a movement built "from the ground up by communities, driven by integrity, evidence-based policy and a belief that better politics is possible."

Both MPs belong to a group of independents popularly known as "teals" — so called because they blend the blue of the conservative Liberal Party with the green of environmental politics — who hold socially liberal views and support stronger climate action. Steggall, a former barrister and Winter Olympian, made headlines in 2019 when she unseated former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in a seat the Liberal Party had held for over a century. Spender won her seat in 2022. Unusually for a political party, Community Strong Australia will have no formal leader and will not require its parliamentarians to vote along party lines — a deliberate choice Steggall defended by calling traditional leadership structures "a media construct of always thinking about leadership and power."

The launch comes against a backdrop of significant political turbulence in Australia. The centre-left Labor Party won a landslide second term at last year's federal election, while the conservative Liberal-Nationals Coalition suffered its worst-ever defeat and has since experienced prolonged internal strife. At the same time, the right-wing One Nation party, led by Pauline Hanson, has recorded a notable surge in support. Steggall and Spender said they were responding to what their own constituents were telling them. "People are frustrated and tired of the status quo," Spender said, adding that "if I wasn't in politics, I wouldn't know who to vote for." The new party's platform will focus on housing affordability, cost of living, climate change, childcare, education, and healthcare.

The formation of Community Strong Australia is also partly a strategic response to new electoral funding laws, which teal independents have argued will disadvantage non-aligned candidates and smaller political movements by giving registered parties access to significantly larger campaign budgets. By registering as a party — an application has been lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission, with registration expected in October — the group also hopes to field Senate candidates and play a more influential collective role should a future election produce a hung parliament. The party has explicitly distanced itself from Climate 200, the political organisation that provided significant funding and campaign support to teal independents in 2022 and 2025.

The launch has so far not attracted broader support from within the teal movement. Fellow independents Monique Ryan and Kate Chaney have ruled out joining, while Nicolette Boele said she was remaining an independent for now, citing the mandate her electorate of Bradfield had given her. With only two MPs, the party does not yet meet the threshold for official party status in parliament. Spender framed the initiative as an open invitation rather than a closed group: "We want to hear from communities beyond our own that want a voice that genuinely reflects them."