Australia politics live: speculation teals may form new party; Gaza flotilla activists arrive home

Mark Butler says he’s not surprised to see speculation that the community teal independents could form a party – with the political spectrum in “flux” right now.

Speaking to ABC’s News Breakfast this morning, the health minister says (rather unsurprisingly) that it’s “a matter for them”.

There’s speculation this morning that Allegra Spender and Zali Steggall could be leading talks for a grouping of the independents. Independent senator David Pocock yesterday said he was open to a party forming to help counter One Nation.

Butler says:

double quotation markThey’ve [teal independents] obviously made inroads in particular communities in Australia. They’ll make their own assessment about whether that works for them.

There obviously is a lot of flux in the non-Labor parts of politics right now, so to see speculation like that’s perhaps not a surprise.