And then we got COVID, and COVID absolutely fundamentally showed us that you need your community around you.. When he launched the Climate200 fund he did so on Twitter and raised $1.4 million in two weeks. We are a cooperative of 2,007 members, says Lane. Holmes Court was criticised in April 2019 for calling Senator Jane Hume out for "bitchiness",[4] and in February 2022 for calling Sarah Henderson a "#Crumbmaiden". Its a circuit-breaker out of where we are right now, with an incredibly high rate of return.. Holmes Court on his farm in Daylesford. Ive been obsessed with energy for a very long time, he says, almost wearily. Ive had panicked calls from Liberal insiders asking that we lay off them, he says. His mother, Janet, just found him there, wide-eyed and conscious, his right index finger blasted to the bone. Theyll sort it out. And then theres a real moment where we realise, Youre not getting it, its time for us to step in, tidy this back up and make this more representative of who we are., Ive watched our government stall for three years and not get anything significant for future generations done.. Instead, theyre giving up jobs, taking career breaks to get involved in politics, often for the first time, bypassing parties and party machines with which theyve lost faith. He is an energy analyst, clean tech investor, climate philanthropist, director of the Smart Energy Council and the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network, senior advisor to the Climate and Energy College at Melbourne . But if it does work, the payoff for Australia will be enormous. Every time, one of the major parties has [eventually] either collapsed, fused with another party, or split. Not that the number is determinative. The VTO Facebook page Kelly started attracted a couple of thousand people. From left: Paul, Simon, Cathy, Janet and Peter. Holmes Court grew up in Perth but he and his siblings were sent to Victoria to board at Geelong Grammar School, where he met his wife Katrina. Hes talented but no one can actually pin him down on what he believes.. Mall of Georgia's retail roster includes shops such as Apple, Altar'd State, Coach, H&M, Michael Kors, Pandora, Pottery Barn . The group spearheading the Tink candidature, North Sydney Independents (NSI), for instance, was created by Kristen Lock, a former nurse, Young Liberal and staffer for former Liberal senator Bill Heffernan, whose disaffection with her former party was mounting in the lead-up to the last election. Water is huge, but it felt niche compared to the problem Im working on now. He then moved to Malaysia to work for the family-owned John Holland Group on IT projects. This is a win-win for both the environment [and] the community.. Simon owns a farm half way between Daylesford and Leonards Hill, the location of the two turbines erected in . By a picturesque lake in Daylesford, where locals go to swim and cool off, is an antique hydro generator, which used to power a few homes around the lake, and the lakes lights. Holmes Court insists his journey into political activism makes sense when you map out the dot points. The thing about the independents is that the timing is right and the zeitgeist is ready for somebody, given that long-term disillusionment with mainstream politics, he says. But beyond the construction of the 4.1MW windfarm enough to power about 2,300 households Hepburn Wind pioneered the modern large-scale community-ownership model of renewable energy in Australia, which is now being replicated around the country. He loved working, and he worked seven days a week. Which is why Im happy to do it., Even hes been surprised by the response since late August. Simon Holmes Courts parents, Robert and Janet. I went along to a public meeting and accidently came out as the chairman. To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times. Simon Holmes Court was the founding chairman of Hepburn Wind. Working through the parties was never going to work for someone like me, McGowan says. Credlin thinks Im a stooge for GetUp. In the lead up to the 2019 Australian Federal Election, Climate200 raised nearly half a million dollars for the campaign. Thats when Josh turned on me, I think, he says. Senior Advisor to the Climate and Energy College at Melbourne University and director . Simon Holmes Court's personal battle with Josh Frydenberg The son of Australia's first billionaire, the man who might help decide the next federal election, says having independents control. His AIESEC experience led to networking the Asian offices of the then family-owned company John Holland, before completing an artificial intelligence and cognitive science degree at Americas Ivy League Dartmouth College. Itd be like me becoming Protestant. I much prefer incremental change than blowing everything up, but my impatience is that I believe we have a hung parliament right now. Minor parties and the independent share of the vote had been increasing for a decade, reaching its highest point since World War II in 2016, when more than a quarter of Australians voted for something other than the LNP, ALP or Greens in the Senate, and more than an eighth in the House of Representatives. Two of my family members [he is married to Katrina, the sister of filmmaker Karl von Moller, with four children] were seriously ill, it was the most shit f---ing time ever, so Josh can f--- off, excuse me. There are people on some of the campaigns who have previously worked for GetUp, big deal. The son of Australias first billionaire has become the face of a burgeoning independents movement some say heralds a tectonic shift in our political landscape. We are eating at a little Japanese restaurant, Izakaya Jiro, on busy Glenferrie Road, not far from Holmes Courts house. So a vote for Sharma or Zimmerman endorses the governments record on climate. Twitter played an important role in Holmes Courts political awakening too. [18], Holmes Court married Katrina von Mller, sister of the Australian film director Karl von Mller, in 1997 at Hydra, Greece. In many ways its the other way round, Harris says. Its not tax-deductible, its uncomfortable for a lot of people to have their name out there. Simon Holmes Court: Every week I speak to someone who has made a major career change or left their career and are focusing on nothing but this climate problem. Credit:Kristoffer Paulsen. People are organising, getting together and having dozens of meetings in a month that could never have happened without a party structure.. I got involved in Australias first community-owned, wind farm in Hepburn. Holmes Court says despite the perception to the contrary, he doesnt feel he has landed too far from the tree. There was a savage culture of physical abuse culture and as we found out in the Royal Commission, a massive sexual abuse problem. Simon Holmes Court (born 30 May 1972) is an Australian businessman and political activist. The photographer even suggests the low-energy Holmes Court gesticulate, if he feels comfortable doing so, to amp things up a bit. But there are no more strings attached. As you can imagine, I had a fairly bizarreupbringing, with politicians of the day around the dinner table, he says. . On Leonards Hill, just outside the town of Daylesford famed for its natural springs stand two wind turbines that not only power the local area, but have also added substantial power to the community-owned renewable energy movement in Australia. In the first of a series about Australian communities building renewable energy projects, we look at how Victorias Hepburn Shire overcame local opposition to deliver a new homegrown, community-owned generator. That all changed two months ago, when he relaunched Climate 200 (C200), the fundraising group he founded just before the May 2019 federal election with support from 35 investors, including tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes. Yes, Angus grew up on a farm and has farming investments but anyway. Simon Holmes Court began his career as a software engineer in Silicon Valley during the first dotcom wave, then spent more than a decade in precision farm water management. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. If you took a side-access track and went 200 metres off the road, though, it was clear-felled, hollowed out in the middle. Weve also got people who used to work for the Liberals and Nationals. It is, says former Grattan Institute chief executive John Daley, a professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, an anyone-other-than movement. Its all still a work in progress. By now our bento boxes have arrived: deluxe for me and seafood for Holmes Court. "[citation needed], He was accused by various members of the Liberal party of comparing John Howard to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, although the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said that they accepted that there were many uses for the term and were satisfied that Holmes Court was not referencing the Nazis.[9]. I was hopeful, Tink says. VAO is really critical for taking the wind out of peoples sails and stopping them marking him as a second, third or fourth preference. [2], Holmes Court was a driving force behind Australia's first community-owned wind farm, Hepburn Wind, near Daylesford in Central Victoria. Authorised by Bragg, its the latest move in a concerted effort to recapture a seat that, once blue-ribbon, has become a bellwether. He doesn't know me.[4]. Josh can f--- off, Simon Holmes Court explodes in the most memorable moment of our 90-minute lunch in Melbournes Hawthorn, where he lives and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is fighting for his, and his governments, political life. But unlike the Greens or One Nation, which have traditionally achieved Senate seats, the independents have a shot at winning lower-house seats because of preferences, which is how McGowan got Indi and Sharkie got Mayo.. I got involved accidently with the Kids off Nauru movement. They are the latest manifestation of a longer-term trend that has the potential to redraw the political landscape: the rising minority vote. I was swamped by people ringing me and saying, I liked your book, but how do we do it? she says. When [independent] Oliver Yates ran against him [in 2019] Frydenberg called his [former] bosses at Macquarie. My parents never saw themselves as partisan. Its against the government; anything other than the existing major parties, he says. Theres a few people it really helps to have the narrative that We love coal. Its only a party of government that can get anything done, Bragg says. Its what the third of four children to Australias first billionaire, Robert Holmes Court, and his former science teacher wife, Janet, had always done. I mean, its lovely but its also three years too late, the international focus is on targets for 2030, 2035, Kylea Tink tells Good Weekend of the Coalitions 2050 net zero target. This isnt a new thing., Holmes Courts sense of environmental peril was sown only slightly later, visiting the massive karri and jarrah forests of Western Australias south-west. Less than 24 hours later I got an email from Kooyong 200 saying my membership had been rejected and two years of membership fees and a donation had been returned to my credit card, he says. Help using this website - Accessibility statement. Simon is the founder of Climate 200, a group of more than 7,300 Australians working to help community-backed independent candidates contest the recent federal election. Simon is a senior advisor to the Climate and Energy College at Melbourne University. How? Three weeks later, her candidacy was announced. Freshly engaged, looking to make a difference, they tend to have reached a point in their lives and careers where they have options. That he chose a non-aligned path through university politics reflected the very particular conditions of home. As for why someone running their own business, with a wife and 10-month-old twins, bothered in the first place: You see an article about the Great Barrier Reef being on its way to 95 per cent death and you look at your kids and you think, What explanation can I give them when Im 80 years old and theyre living in a radically different world? Im at the age now where you think, People are actually listening to me now. He began an arts/law degree at the University of Western Australia, where he was involved in student politics, but withdrew after a few years. Steggall bought VTO T-shirts for her husband and parents two days before Christmas 2018. But I think COVID makes it a little bit different. Disgruntled small-l liberals. After Alan Jones bullied Gladys Berejiklian to advertise a horse race on the Opera House and Scott Morrison called it Australias biggest billboard I did a cheeky tweet and said, If its the biggest billboard I would like to hire it to project #KidsoffNauru. [8], On the 17 May, 4 days before the 2022 election, Holmes Court used the phrase "Angel of Death" to refer to John Howard. I did an op-ed on why it was inevitable, and you shouldnt worry.