David Van
Independent

Summary

Policies & Commentary

David Van, Independent¹NOT “David van Independent”, comes across as someone who speaks their mind and is forthright. You’d never know it from his website, though. It doesn’t seem to have switched to campaign mode – it’s a decent enough site for what it does, but it’s very much in the “I am in Parliament and this is what I’ve done” mode, while elections are more about what one is going to do.

But assuming that past performance is reasonable predictor of future performance, we can make a few assumptions. Senator Van is an independent who was previously a member of the Liberal Party – and he didn’t exactly leave on good terms, being accused of inappropriate sexual advances to multiple colleagues, although its notable that none of these accusations seem to have been pursued by their accusers since his resignation from the party. It makes me wonder if this conduct was something that might otherwise have been swept under the rug (compare the Coalition’s response to similar allegations against other party members over the last few years, for example), but provided a convenient excuse to push him out. I guess we won’t know until the current crop of coalition representatives writes their unreadably self-serving memoirs.²Or, yes, even then.

Still, during his tenure with the Coalition, it he always voted at his party’s call³It is unclear whether he thought of thinking for himself at all. In the nearly two years since his departure from the party, he seems to have attended very few sessions of the Senate, and voted infrequently at best. However, recent speeches show him broadly supporting ALP measures – he might suggest the odd amendment, but he usually seems to be in favour of the general thrust of the bills, and he was complimentary about the most recent budget.

Van’s slogan points to one of his primary concerns: foreign affairs and defence. You’ll see the Ukrainian flag twice just on the front page of his site, so it’s not hard to work out where he stands on that issue. In fact, he even visited the Ukraine in August 2022, and we’re told that The purpose of his visit was twofold: to express solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to ensure Australia maximises its understanding of modern warfare. His involvement in the APPF⁴Asian Pacific Parliamentary Forum and the Australian Parliamentary Friendship groups of Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Spain and the Pacific Islands suggest a candidate who takes seriously the importance of both warfare and diplomacy in foreign relations, and indeed, he holds a Master of International Relations from Monash University and currently working on his Masters of Strategy and Security at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Aside from the Ukraine War, however, he has few clear positions in this area. He has made repeated statements supporting Israel in the current conflict in Gaza, and there has been no softening of that position as the death toll has mounted. In November last year, he made a parliamentary speech supporting AUKUS. At the time, he remarked that cancelling AUKUS because of who is in the White House is just nonsensical but it’s unclear how he may feel given that nonsensical is now an accurate description of our AUKUS alliance partner’s approach to governing. David, if you’re reading, we’d appreciate some clarity here.

Now, the thing that he seems proudest of from his time in Parliament is his launching of the Senate Select Committee on Energy Planning and Regulation in Australia, starting in September 2024, and releasing its final report three months later. (Just in time to sink like a stone in the Christmas/New Year season – the AFR was one of very few news outlets to even notice its existence.) I confess, I have not read all 187 pages of the report. The following is based on the 7 page synopsis Van provides on his site, and then the recommendations from the full report when that proved unsatisfactory.

It’s notable that Van very much breaks with Coalition policies here: he’s passionate about decarbonisation and worries about Australia’s ability to meet it in a reasonable timeframe. The report is also critical of privatisation, so I’m guessing David Van won’t be invited to any IPA events in the near future. The report also comes out very strongly against the coalition’s nuclear plan, and in favour of renewables, while still seeing room for fossil fuels during the transition. Despite my earlier joke, it very much appears that Van thinks for himself on this subject at least.

Aside from these two issues, there’s not a lot to go one with Van – there’s his voting record, but most of that consists of blindly voting with his party before he became an independent. Still, I do like his positions on these two issues

In summary, it’s difficult to know what to make of Van. He seems to fall somewhere between the ALP and the LNP on many matters, and to the left of the ALP on others. And it’s in the former location I will be placing him on my ballot.