Independents ready for state election wave

Three values that more than 10,000 political donors - and a large number of voters in key electorates - thought the major parties did not take seriously.

On election day, a record number of independents seized previously "safe" seats and helped spell the end of the near decade-long Liberal government.

But Climate 200 - a non-profit, non-partisan group which helped financially back many of those candidates - is just getting started.

The organisation was jointly founded and partially funded by clean energy analyst and investor Simon Holmes a Court, who told AAP no seat should be considered safe in the new political environment.

"The long game is to have a majority of representatives that fight for these values in each chamber of the three levels of government in Australia," he told AAP.

A new book titled The Big Teal, published today and written by Mr Holmes a Court, shares the story of how the Climate 200 movement emerged, gathered momentum and helped increase the crossbench in both houses of parliament.

It also details the backlash the philanthropist received in response to his parliamentary shake-up attempt.

As the son of Australia's first billionaire, Mr Holmes a Court was accused of buying votes through his involvement with Climate 200.

"The candidates came through squeaky clean, while I attracted the wrath of the media and others - which was fine because I wasn't running," he said.

But while the election campaign became nastier as more seats became threatened, Mr Holmes a Court has no regrets.

"The stakes are so high at elections ... people behave in ways they never would in normal times and say things that they know are indefensible," he said.

"I don't think there's anything that I regret saying or doing through the campaign. I think we held our integrity pretty well."

Often referred to as the teals, the independents backed by the Climate 200 movement shared its three values.

"(Climate 200) aren't a policy platform, we aren't a party and we don't tell anyone what their policies should be," Mr Holmes a Court said.

"We waited for campaigns to emerge within communities and when there was a campaign that had strengths and was ready to scale, that's when we came in and gave a hand."

The campaigns which emerged in many electorates were those of high-profile, mostly female challengers taking on high-profile, mostly male incumbents.

But Mr Holmes a Court admitted more could be done to increase diversity in parliament after the history-making result.

The majority of the new independents hail from affluent electorates in Sydney and Melbourne.

"We're very conscious of what our role is as part of this movement in expanding access to communities of different shapes and sizes," he said.

Climate 200 aimed to level the political playing field by supporting community-backed candidates with the funding needed to take on the major party machine.

An almost year-long, rolling series of online campaigns and offline pitches raised $13 million from 11,200 donors by election day.

But Mr Holmes a Court called for a "root and branch" review on election spending to ensure incumbents didn't enjoy a financial advantage over challengers.

"People of equal merit should have equal chance to be elected and any system that provides extra benefit to one cohort is a perversion of our democracy," he said.

"We need to level that playing field and that means much stricter controls on government advertising to make sure they're not electioneering."

The same momentum that drove the federal election result is building for the upcoming Victorian and NSW elections, to be held in November and March respectively.

Mr Holmes a Court said there was a significant movement at the state level, particularly in electorates overlapping with those of federal MPs Zoe Daniel and Monique Ryan in Melbourne.

"There's also a lot of interest in New South Wales and early polling is looking really good," he said.

Australian Associated Press