He loved working, and he worked seven days a week. He hated bullshit and had no respect for mediocre men in politics. I think people are very angry with regards to lockdown, Higgins Katie Allen says of the results, which she doesnt see as related to climate or other independent hot-button issues. [19] They have four children together.[20]. Holmes Court is outlining the steps that have led him to where he now sits, in a polo shirt (Liberal-blue) and baseball cap, in a makeshift study in the off-the-grid farm where he and his wife of 24 years, Katrina, and their four children, aged 15 to 21, have spent much of Melbournes world-beating lockdown. I met with him quite a few times, but I havent spoken to him since we had a run-in about four years ago. Id messaged the Treasurers office earlier to let them know about my lunch date and on my way to the restaurant, Frydenberg called and bent my ear for 15 minutes, suggesting a few tough questions he would ask Holmes Court. Connecting, networking, making things happen. Bernard figured that if they adopted the Danish model, where the windfarm was smaller, and the local community owned it, support for clean, clean wind energy would grow. From left: Paul, Simon, Cathy, Janet and Peter. But there are no more strings attached. Energy transition specialist and clean energy investor. Hes on record being one of our donors from last time, he put in $50,000 in 2019 and were hoping he puts some in again this time. A politician is a very particular skillset, and it is not mine and the last thing the parliament needs is another white, middle-aged male, he says. Just two or three more seats to deliver power to the crossbench on crucial legislation. That he chose a non-aligned path through university politics reflected the very particular conditions of home. As you can imagine, I had a fairly bizarreupbringing, with politicians of the day around the dinner table, he says. But back in Hepburn shire, not satisfied with the windfarm, the residents are expanding the renewables in their area. This infuriated ex-chairman of the Liberal's Indigenous Advisory Council, Nyunggai Warren Mundine who tweeted Holmes Court was a "filthy rich man trying to influence the election via the All White Climate 200 party". That was the way electricity was first introduced into much of the country, with smaller decentralised generators, owned by the local communities. The hostess said, You have to leave now. I said, Can I finish my drink? She said, No, the Treasurer says you have to leave now.. 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. Its his advancement to the top job. Josh. He was very impressed with the Hawke-Keating era and Australia becoming brave on the world stage., Ive always rallied against injustice. She puts what she calls that seismic shift down to the 2019-20 bushfires, followed closely by COVID-19. Simon began his career as a software engineer, then spent more than a decade in precision farm water management. So far, C200 has matched $100,000 in local donations in North Sydney, where former charities CEO Kylea Tink last month announced she will take on Liberal moderate incumbent Trent Zimmerman; $60,000 in Wentworth (Sharma) and $51,000 in Mackellar (held by Liberal Jason Falinski), both Sydney seats for which candidates are expected to be announced soon. He founded Voices of Hume in February 2020, which pursued what has become the classic Voices Of formula of kitchen-table conversations with 10 facilitators doing meetings in Camden and in Goulburn and all around small towns in between. This is a win-win for both the environment [and] the community.. As far as the seats were supporting, Sophie Scamps in Mackellar, Kylea Tink in North Sydney, Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Monique Ryan in Kooyong, Zoe Daniel in Goldstein and Kate Chaney in Perth are all doing exceptionally well. The Liberal Party has a minority in government, and they need the Nationals to form government. I did an op-ed on why it was inevitable, and you shouldnt worry. "[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]. Holmes Courts relaunch of C200 has been followed by serial announcements of an advisory board that looks increasingly like a posy of thorns in the Coalitions side, including former Liberals John Hewson and Julia Banks and former crossbenchers Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott. The idea of communities owning their own power generators is not new in Australia, according to Lane, its just been forgotten. I went to Geelong Grammar in the 80s and witnessed and experienced a lot of injustice. Simon Holmes Court Convenor at Climate 200. Its because the traditional base has been abandoned. simon holmes a court daylesford. 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. Simon Holmes Court is founder of Climate 200, a group of more than 7,300 Australians working to help community-backed independent candidates contest Australian elections. Even putting aside the question of how many of the burgeoning groups can bring themselves to behave enough like parties to launch campaigns and candidates, the governments net zero 2050 plan announced by the Glasgow-bound PM may sufficiently salve the wound, much as the governments 2019 Climate Solutions Package did. However, the recently launched site zalihasfailed.com, targeting Zali Steggall in Warringah its homepage blaring Did you know, Steggall voted with Labor 64 per cent of the time below a drop-down menu inviting readers to Discover Zalis failures probably indicates the level of actual government concern. I got involved accidently with the Kids off Nauru movement. Simon Holmes Court, the son of one of Australia's great mining entrepreneurs, is currently senior advisor to the Energy Transition Hub at Melbourne University and a board member of the Smart Energy Council. Back then, C200 raised $500,000 to put towards 12 independents campaigns that featured climate action policies, including Helen Haines, who succeeded Cathy McGowan in the north-eastern Victorian seat of Indi; Kerryn Phelps, who narrowly lost Sydneys blue-chip Wentworth to Liberal Dave Sharma; former Clean Energy Finance Corporation CEO Oliver Yates, who ran in Melbournes equally upmarket Kooyong against now-Treasurer Josh Frydenberg; and Rebekha Sharkie, who took the South Australian seat of Mayo as an independent. We used to have our own generator in the main street of Daylesford [and] we used to have our own hydro station down at the lake, he says. This time around, the gatekeeper is the party machine. Its really only the parties, the government and the Prime Minister that can commit Australia to the important things like climate obligations.. Which is why Im happy to do it., Even hes been surprised by the response since late August. In many ways its the other way round, Harris says. Im Catholic. He also believes the opportunity for the independents to control the balance of power is within reach. Clearly, getting onto the crossbench was the easiest way for me to get a seat at the table, which is Parliament.. I guess for most of my fathers professional life Labor would have been in power, [and] some of the last days of the [Liberal] Fraser government, but his later years were very much internationally focused. His parents were unaligned in more essential ways, too. Steggall bought VTO T-shirts for her husband and parents two days before Christmas 2018. A Resolve Political Monitor poll of just under 5000 voters published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on October 7 suggests that pressure isnt lessening, with voters in Melbourne and Sydney cutting support since the last election for both the Coalition and Labor. We dont start campaigns, we dont choose candidates, campaigns come to us and if the campaign matches our mandate, the seat is winnable and the fundamentals check out we will donate to them.. 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. No one knows who their tribe is any more., Grassroots campaigner, Vote Tony Outs campaigner Mark Kelly. I remember thinking, If we could get 500 people to sign up, that would be great, but weve now hit 1500, which is pretty considerable, he says. But also because we thought it was a good and wise investment for our super fund. The catalyst was McGowans memoir, Cathy Goes to Canberra, published last November. Essentially what youve got is traditional small-l liberals, who feel the partys leadership and its policies no longer represent their values, says former PM Malcolm. It helped support the campaigns of Zali Steggall, Helen Haines and Rebekha Sharkie. I just called him out on his bullshit. That was very significant for me. Simon Holmes Court's profile on The Conversation. Holmes Court, 49, also says he was thrown out of a meet the candidate event at the Geebung Polo Club with Frydenberg before the 2019 election. "[12], Liberal MP Jason Falinski claimed that Holmes Court is "attempting to take over the Parliament with money" and that "he treats Australians as though their vote is for sale. I went along to a public meeting and accidently came out as the chairman. Because while Holmes Court is a quintessential brahmin, his motivations dont differ fundamentally from a cross-section of activists Good Weekend speaks to for this piece. More recently, his work with one of NSWs biggest solar installers brought Angus Taylor to his attention in the sprawling neighbouring electorate of Hume. But this time around, Holmes Courts ambition, like the number of independent activist groups, has hugely increased. Simon Holmes Courts parents, Robert and Janet. [5] They also live in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn. The official audio for 'Tbilisi Airport' by Simon Goff & Katie Melua. Fairfax Photo Library. 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. He was expelled by Frydenberg after he wrote an op-ed in Guardian Australia in 2018 supporting the closure of AGL's coal-fired Liddell Power Station. 2019 was basically me hitting the phones 10 weeks before the election saying, Heres my strategy. Theres a few people it really helps to have the narrative that We love coal. I thought wed have about 50 people, because Id had about 50 phone calls from all over Australia and it was a short time-frame, she says. 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. The hostess said, You have to leave now. I said, Can I finish my drink? She said, No, the Treasurer says you have to leave now.[4], Frydenberg criticised Holmes Court for spending much of the COVID-19 Melbourne lockdowns at his farm in Daylesford with his family. [18], Holmes Court married Katrina von Mller, sister of the Australian film director Karl von Mller, in 1997 at Hydra, Greece. Ltd. attempting to improve the efficiency of their eight cattle stations in the Northern Territory. So for people it was quite an obvious step that we might be able to take back the power so to speak., Lane says: Its ironic now that there is this broader push back to that more decentralised system., And Bernard turned out to be right. To me, it just provides the electorate with even greater opportunity to observe that this government is still out of step with community wishes and whats going on in the rest of the world. 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. . 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., Its people literally sending a message: If youre not prepared to endorse candidates with our values, or who can deliver on those values, well pick ones that are. , He initially tried the party route, approaching his local member in Kooyong, Frydenberg, even joining the Treasurers Kooyong 200 Club fundraising group in early 2017. Holmes Court stated "I found myself standing on the footpath with a glass of wine, Holmes Court says. But if it does work, the payoff for Australia will be enormous. Voices Of, Voices For and non-aligned groups. Strong community opposition, often encouraged by the fossil fuel industry, has at times been a roadblock for large windfarms built by traditional energy companies. Which is why Im happy to do it.. Weve already given the money, I dont have anything to do with pre-selections he says. He and Katrina recently told their kids they had decided to sink upwards of $200,000 of their own money into C200. Simon was a driving force behind Australias first community-owned wind farm, Hepburn Wind, near Daylesford in Central Victoria. Someone from the movement called me up and said, This is a moment., He started a fundraiser on Chuffed and it raised $117,000 in 48 hours. how to add trusted domain in office 365 admin; andrea lowe family; the monitor newspaper mcallen, tx phone number; how much does a smoke shop make a month. You could hold your nose and vote Labor or hold your nose and vote Liberal and for a lot of people it is difficult to hold their nose and vote Green., A politician is a very particular skill set and it is not mine and the last thing the parliament needs is another white, middle-aged male, says Holmes Court. The majority of the investors are from the local region, something the cooperative has written into its rules. History is written by the winner. I believed we could move forward. A small project, only two turbines but it generates as much power as the town uses in a year. These are incredibly powerful organisms and if you do something to threaten them you can expect a swift immune system response, he says. For a number of years, people havent had to rely on each other, because the system was basically working. Listen/Buy: https://SimonAndKatie.lnk.to/AerialOb. It was at a community meeting for a large corporate-owned windfarm, like the one near Hepburn, that the idea for Hepburn Wind emerged. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. 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 University and writes regularly about the transformation of Australias energy sector. They were quite disappointed that that was our local areas first response to large-scale renewables development in the area, Lane says. 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. Why is the narrative that the election was won and lost in Queensland? Holmes Court is outlining the steps that have led him to where he now sits, in a polo shirt (Liberal-blue) and baseball cap, in a makeshift study in the off-the-grid farm where he and his wife of 24 years, Katrina, and their four children, aged 15 to 21, have spent much of Melbourne's world-beating lockdown. is pepperoni processed meat; pictures of yin yang tattoos. Turnbull, who himself backed an independent in Mays NSW state Upper Hunter byelection. Hepburn Wind began construction in 2010 and started selling power in 2011. [14] The following day Holmes Court was accused again of bullying by British climate activist Zion Lights. That is the real punchline of the proliferating activist independent groups. ABC TV - 7.30 Report by Cheryl Hall. The turbines, cheesily called Gusto and Gale, constitute the very first community-owned windfarm in Australia. Your question to Simon on the AZ election results and Simon's response provided some in-depth knowledge on AZ and GA results. Simon Holmes Court addresses the National Press Club of Australia on "Independents and Climate - the hope to end the lost decade". Im hyperaware of the privilege Ive been given, he says. For former Kevin Rudd staffer Lachlan Harris, that 25 per cent minority vote is a magic number. simon holmes a court daylesforddaily news subscription phone number. Simon Holmes Court was the founding chairman of Hepburn Wind. Not that it ever drove her all the way to apostasy. But the die was already cast in most peoples campaigns., From here Ill be working the Rolodex to try to convince philanthropists that this is a really effective form of philanthropy. The photographer even suggests the low-energy Holmes Court gesticulate, if he feels comfortable doing so, to amp things up a bit. Labor would need to win seven seats, and its difficult to come up with seven seats that are a definitive win.. The best of Good Weekend delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. But he says it was a community wind farm in Hepburn, near his farm in Daylesford, 15 years ago, that proved very significant for me. Part of the sale was a commitment, not to work in the space [for seven years]. You have to have a really good reason because its a default. Less than 24 hours later, I was kicked out of the Kooyong200 club. Through a mutual friend, Kelly ended up spending New Years Eve with Steggall and her husband, Tim, both of whom peppered him with questions. You dont send John Howard somewhere you dont need him. I ask him about billionaires like Elon Musk and Mike Cannon Brookes purporting to change the world via Twitter. 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. Im doing my own thing. He had a lot of time for the greats: men and women with a vision for Australia. Like Holmes Court, those leading the campaigns which he is looking to back calculate that the climate-and-integrity-savvy constituents theyre after have been watching. When he launched the Climate200 fund he did so on Twitter and raised $1.4 million in two weeks. Simon Holmes Court (born 30 May 1972) is an Australian businessman and political activist. Climate 200. It will come down to people deciding whether rhetoric can be trusted over action., Kylea Tink will stand in North Sydney against Trent Zimmerman for whom she voted in 2019.Credit:James Brickwood, Holmes Court insists the reaction to the independents push is already telling. However much they end up mattering at the next election or not they are the latest manifestation of a longer-term trend that may redraw the political landscape: the rising minority vote. Its an entirely private setting, the backside of the familys beaglier, Kingston, heaving into view on my computer screen occasionally, or Katrina, down a hallway, cleaning windows. Deves' bodyguard + the Jane Hume vid", "Simon Holmes Court and Senator Jane Hume clash live on TV", "10 Aug 2003 - Simon & Katrina Holmes a Court ~ 19 June 1997 - Archived Website", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Simon_Holmes__Court&oldid=1123053515, People educated at Geelong Grammar School, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2022, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Entrepreneur, convenor of Climate 200, director of the Smart Energy Council, Katrina Holmes Court (nee von Mller-Harteneck), This page was last edited on 21 November 2022, at 14:28. It was shut down in 1934, and has lain dormant ever since. I think theyre lost as well, he says of the federal Labor Party. The government lost a vote on their own bill for the first time in 90 years. Matt Murfitt, 39, was another swinging voter politicised by climate change. It was not a pleasant time at all. The confrontation was filmed by Josh Frydenberg on his phone and was posted to Twitter. Simon 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. Its what the third of four children to Australias first billionaire, Robert Holmes Court, and his former science teacher wife, Janet, had always done. Its Josh. Ive been obsessed with energy for a very long time, he says, almost wearily. At the University of Western Australia, he neglected an old-school law degree for student politics via the French-founded International Association of Students in Economics and Commerce (AIESEC), which he describes as a bit like a model UN that introduced students to fundraising, running events and plenaries and constitutions and stuff and for which he spent a year introducing networking technology, such as email. Says Lane: At Hepburn Wind we really want to play our role in helping our community reach zero net emissions., Energy positive: how Denmark's Sams island switched to zero carbon, Australia's regions already have an energy crisis and a climate of investment is the answer, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Renewables roadshow Daylesford: The windfarm is a symbol of our community, recently built Australias largest CBD solar farm. Its a circuit-breaker out of where we are right now, with an incredibly high rate of return.. Williams and moleskin pants and stopped short of chewing on a stalk of hay as he starts talking about lamb sales are up, and you cant find hay for love or money. 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.. But it was when independent Kerryn Phelps was advocating the Medevac bill, that he became connected. As does the evolution of the Community Independents Project itself. Isamu Sawa. It gave me a thick skin.. Holmes Court and his wife have a 36-hectare off-grid farm in Daylesford, Victoria, living there during Melbourne's lockdown. Were working to restore it. [16] Another version of the exchange was later released showing Hume calling Holmes Court an "arsehole". I think three of the 22 [candidates] have previously been part of Labor. He is an energy . April 1st, 2011 Award winning reporter Cheryl Hall reporting on wind turbine related health problems and the first Federal Senate
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