Australia politics live: Zali Steggall confirms teals having ‘conversations’ amid speculation about new political party

Zali Steggall says teals want to ‘be more effective in holding government to account’. Follow today’s news live

Were the teal party conversations sparked by the government’s electoral reforms?

Yes and no, Allegra Spender and Zali Steggall say.

There are many things that favour major party structures, and again, the public was incredibly cynical about that move, that it’s yet again major parties trying to rig the game for their benefit.

I have had conversations over a period of time about how politics could evolve because people keep on coming to me and say they really worried about the times that we’re in.

The question is: look, are there ways to better collaborate to evolve and how we work together or how some of us work together so that we can more explicitly align on certain areas and then where our communities and where we fundamentally disagree to have that freedom. Continue reading...