The Teal Revolution

The Teal Revolution is essential reading on the unprecedented Teal wave of the 2022 election, a movement with the potential to change Australian politics. From experienced political journalist Margot Saville, this is the fourth book in The Crikey Read series by Crikey and Hardie Grant Books.

In the 2022 election a group of independent female candidates, driven largely by grassroots campaigns, spectacularly ousted Liberal party stalwarts from supposedly safe, blue-ribbon seats. They are the Teals: from Allegra Spender in the seat of Wentworth (Malcolm Turnbull’s old seat), to Monique Ryan in the seat of Kooyong (unseating the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg) to Zoe Daniel in the seat of Goldstein, and more. Who are these women, and why have they succeeded in these previously untouchable seats? What does their ascension tell us about those electorates, and the mood for change within the broader Australian community?

The Teal Revolution explores the antecedents of the Teals – independents like Cathy McGowan, Zali Steggall, and even Bob Katter – while examining the bigger macropolitical trends in play over the last decade. With a unique ability to place us in the moment, Saville brings us an insider’s view of the 2022 election campaign in Wentworth and other key Teal seats. What was it actually like to be part of these campaigns, and at what point did victory become possible? Crucially, Saville also asks at where the Teals might go next, and how they might continue to reshape Australian politics.

From Crikey and Hardie Grant Books, The Crikey Read is a series that brings an unflinching and truly independent eye to the issues of the day in Australia and the world.

About the Author

Margot Saville practised as a lawyer for one year before becoming a journalist in 1987. She has worked at The Australian, ABC Television, the Nine Network and The Sydney Morning Herald. She is the author of The Battle for Bennelong, about Maxine McKew's successful tilt at former Prime Minister John Howard's federal parliamentary seat in 2007.