Statement from Lucy Bradlow and Bronwen Bock of the Better Together Party

Melbourne, 28 March 2025: We are deeply disappointed to announce that our campaign to be Australia’s first ever job-sharing candidate in the 2025 Federal Election has come to an end. Unfortunately, we were not able to have the legal issue determined before this election.

From the beginning of our campaign we said we would only run if we could run as a job-share pair. We feel like it would be disingenuous if we continued our campaign with only a single candidate. We have therefore made the difficult decision to end our campaign for this election.

We always knew this campaign was going to be an uphill battle, but even we were unprepared for the amount of hurdles we faced, from the abolition of the seat of Higgins, to the subsequent work to form a political party, to seeking a protective costs order so we did not have to face the risk of the Commonwealth’s legal costs in this matter of public interest.

 We are nevertheless hugely proud of what we have achieved, from forming the Better Together Party to receiving a protective costs order against the Commonwealth. We could only have done this with the genuine and vocal support of the over 1,500 members of the Better Together Party who were determined to show the government that they supported a pathway for broader representation in federal Parliament.

We are hopeful that we can continue the legal case after the conclusion of the election. We believe that we owe it to all the amazing people who have supported us through this journey and to the people of Australia to keep challenging the status quo to build a stronger nation where everyone has a voice in shaping our future.