News / Federal Election
New party hopes to make an impact in Wills
Fusion Party was formed from a merger of four minor parties
Mark Phillips
WHEN Owen Miller tells voters he is the Fusion Party candidate for Wills, more often than not he is met with blank stares.
That lack of recognition is Fusion’s biggest hurdle as it prepares to make its debut in Wills at the upcoming federal election but it hasn’t discouraged Miller, a Brunswick resident who unsuccessfully ran in the Merri-bek Council elections last year.
Miller, a software engineer who moved to Brunswick three years ago after a period living in the United States, has been working hard to raise both his own profile and that of the Fusion Party, which he joined shortly before he ran in the byelection for the outer eastern suburban seat of Aston in 2023. He got 2.9% of the vote then.
He said Fusion will seek to attract voters who are looking for an alternative to Labor and the Greens.
“I don’t fully agree with the premise that The Greens are the only challenger [to Labor in Wills],” he said.
“When I have been doorknocking, I’ve noticed we’re still in the trap, unfortunately, where most people haven’t heard of Fusion. But everyone I speak to, when I tell them about what Fusion stands for, what some of our policies are, it’s pretty positive. So I think the only thing holding us back is who’s heard of us?”
Fusion, which currently has nine candidates for both houses of Parliament with more expected to be announced soon, brings together elements of four minor parties with long histories, but with a new policy platform.
Although it is unlikely to win any seats, particularly in the lower house, the party wants to influence the public dialogue about climate change, technology and civil liberties.
Fusion was formed in 2021 from the amalgamation of the Science, Pirate, Secular, Vote Planet, and Climate Change Justice parties.
As the national convenor of Fusion, Miller has been heavily involved in writing the party’s comprehensive policy platform.
The party supports a universal basic income; wants to see the adoption of more cutting edge technology, including geo-engineering, to combat global warming; and embraces Artificial Intelligence and open source software to spur a national innovation agenda.
As an admirer of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Miller was also attracted to Fusion by its advocacy for whistleblower protections and Freedom of Information law reforms, which include the establishment of a Whistleblower Protection Authority and government-funded legal support for whistleblowers.
At a local level, Miller says he would fight for the Upfield and Craigieburn lines to be upgraded so there were trains at least every 10 minutes.
Miller says Fusion has the benefit of years of policy development by its predecessor parties.
“There’s a lot of love for independents at the moment, and I guess we both – minor parties and independents – share the fact that we’re still ambitious and sort of more pure. We’re not just selling out.
“But I guess where Fusion is unique compared to independents is that we have people who have been thinking about these issues for years, fleshing out these ideas.
“It’s not reinventing the wheel in each electorate.”
Miller says Australia could learn a great deal from the small northern European nation of Estonia, which has a “digital first” government and consistently ranks among the top nations in the world for quality of life, education, and freedom of expression.
“Australia has fallen completely behind in research and development funding,” Miller says.
“We’re no longer innovative, we’re no longer keeping up.
“Wage growth hasn’t kept up with productivity ever since the ‘70s. Australia just keeps falling further and further behind.”
Miller began to be politically active while living and working in the United States in 2020 out of frustration at what he saw as the political status quo.
Returning to Australia in 2022, the Sydney-born 36-year-old bought an apartment in Brunswick because of the suburb’s similarities to the ultra-hip neighbourhood of Bushwick in New York where he had lived for a period.
Offering his candidacy for Merri-bek Council’s Bulleke-bek ward last year was a dry run for the federal election.
Miller got 4.5% of primary votes and concedes there is a lot of work to do in explaining Fusion’s policies and raising both his own and the party’s profile.
“I had already been intending on running federally, but some people were asking let’s get these ideas out now, let’s get them into Council and make this option available.
“The people didn’t choose it. That’s their choice … The biggest problem holding me back is just people aren’t aware of us [and] what we stand for.”
This time around, Miller has had hundreds of posters printed featuring his distinctive pink hair (he began dyeing his hair well before he contemplated politics) and has welcomed the opportunity to take part in community forums, including the recent Merri-bek climate forum in Coburg.
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