The Liberals lost a swag of heartland seats in part because they "deluded themselves" into believing the community didn't care about climate change or political integrity, Climate 200's executive director has said.
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Byron Fay says the Liberals will struggle to reclaim the once-safe territory it lost to teal independents if it doesn't return to the "sensible centre" on policy areas which helped define the election result.
Mr Fay made the comments during an appearance at the National Press Club on Wednesday, which he used to proclaim the major parties' stranglehold on Australian politics had been "shattered" at the May 21 ballot.
He cast the teal wave as a "launch pad" for the movement, arguing an "enduring" crossbench made up of centrist, pro-climate independents was needed to tackle global warming.
"We are moving towards a system where conflict and chaos will be replaced with community, compromise and conversation as the foundations of governing," Mr Fay said.
In a wide-ranging Q&A session, Mr Fay declared grassroots donors and community appetite would dictate what role Climate 200 played at future elections and backed a root-and-branch review of election donation rules amid concerns the system had been "rigged" to support incumbents.
The comments came as the new Labor government confirmed it would pursue major electoral donation reforms, including lowering the disclosure threshold and introducing real-time reporting.
The Climate 200 fundraising vehicle was a major force during the election, pumping funds into the campaigns of independent candidates challenging sitting Coalition MPs and Senators.
The independents put the Morrison government's record on climate action and failure to establish a federal anti-corruption commission at the centre of their campaigns, which were supported by massive volunteer armies.
Six of those candidates went on to win Liberal-held city seats, while David Pocock - who received roughly $500,000 from Climate 200 - defeated Zed Seselja to claim the ACT's second Senate seat.
The group ultimately raised $13 million from 11,200 donors, Mr Fay said.
Climate 200, with renewable energy investor Simon Holmes à Court as its public face, was the target of frequent attack from the Coalition, which accused it of pulling the strings for candidates it described as "fake" or "Labor" independents.
Mr Holmes à Court pushed back at claims he was running a political party, stressing Climate 200 didn't select candidates and had a no strings attached relationship with people it supported.
Mr Fay on Wednesday insisted that the fundraising arm was just "one cog" in the independents' movement, helping candidates with donations, polling and and marketing content.
Asked to identify the single biggest mistake the Liberals made before May 21, Mr Fay said: "they stopped listening to their communities".
"You had Liberal MPs out there saying, my community doesn't really care about climate, they don't really care about integrity, they don't really care about gender equity," he said.
"We would do the polling and we could say that was untrue.
"So they deluded themselves, for whatever reason, that their communities didn't care about this stuff."
Mr Fay was asked peppered with questions about Climate 200's future, including the prospect of bankrolling the "teal" independents at the next election.
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He said the group couldn't commit to supporting any candidate, and said the level of interest from donors would determine its involvement at future elections.
Meanwhile, Special Minister of State Don Farrell has confirmed reports that the government was eyeing a major shakeup of election donation laws, including lowering the threshold for donations to be disclosed from about $15,000 to $1000.
Real-time reporting of donations could also be on the cards.
Senator Farrell said Labor would pursue the changes via the parliamentary committee which examines the election.
"Labor has a longstanding policy of reducing the disclosure threshold, and implementing real time reporting of donations," he said.
"Labor has always sought to approach electoral reform in a consultative and bipartisan manner. The inquiry conducted by [the commitee] after each election is a vital part of this process."