The “terrorists in lycra” have organised and now, they want your vote.

Australia’s first political party dedicated to cyclists and their interests has launched a membership drive. May I be the first to whip off my biking gloves to applaud. Its launch website asks: “Why has cycling been demonised, politicised and criticised so often in the media and by government officials?”

It’s a fair question. Cyclists are a stigmatised group. This is especially true in NSW, where the Daily Telegraph’s ongoing anti-cycling campaign has gone to extraordinary lengths to vilify cyclists, pitting the “cappuccino swilling trendies” against motorists, turning them into a bête noir in the process. The most recent wave of vitriol depicted cyclists as aggressive, lawless, ignorant, spoiled, cynical, chaos-causing pests. ABC’s Media Watch called out the newspaper for bending facts (it incorrectly reported that Sydney’s bike-lane use had fallen by 5.9% when it had, in fact, doubled).

The Telegraph's week-long campaign certainly made waves. Of course, shock jocks joined in, with Chris Smith slamming bike lanes as “damned things.” Sydney mayor Clover Moore responded with a Guardian Australia piece urging the “hysteria” to stop, and instigated the hashtag #onyerbike to give cyclists the right of reply.

Inciting ire from motorists towards cyclists is particularly peculiar. Omar Khalifa, who is launching the new political party, says “a motorist’s best friend is often a cyclist.” They ease congestion, lessen fuel demand and free up parking spaces. It’s irresponsible to promote bad feeling between motorists and cyclists. We need to co-exist harmoniously – no good can come of any campaign that seeks to do otherwise.

As a Sydney cyclist, I’ve seen the dangerous impact of anger stoking. Two weeks ago, I was squashed so far over on the road that my bike caught in a drain. I went over the handlebars. My bike landed on the Mercedes that squashed me. I approached the driver, who demanded money before I had chance to apologise for the scratches. Distressed and bleeding, I tried to reason with her. She shouted “you cyclists shouldn’t be on the road! You should be on the pavement!”.

Admittedly, some cyclists aren’t sensible. I want to pull out the headphones of any cyclist who thinks listening to Rihanna is more important than their safety. Skipping reds when pedestrians cross is similarly infuriating; this minority give us a bad name. But most of us aren’t the obnoxious stereotype you read about. I recently completed a 1,000km bike ride for children’s cancer charity Camp Quality. My 35 fellow cyclists were the kindest-hearted group I’ve met; so focused on helping create a better life for kids with cancer, not using pedestrians as bollards. We were dressed to heal, not kill.

The benefits of cycling read like an inventory of no-brainers: reducing carbon emissions in a country where the carbon tax has been controversial; reducing obesity in a country where it’s spiralling; freeing up the drain on the health system; less drain on the economy (1km of motorway/road costs the equivalent of 110km of bikeway).

With all these benefits, it’s high time we had a party defending us. This won’t be as niche a party as it seems; as Khalifa says: “when you fix cycling issues, you’re actually dealing with a whole set of other issues that affect other people.” Just as the Motoring Enthusiast’s party will help the Palmer United party to vote on Senate legislation, this new party could be a crucial player for those who need key allies and votes on carbon, health and transport issues.

Exciting policies could be on the agenda. Extending Melbourne’s bike share scheme to other Australian cities (based on original Parisian Vélib scheme, which has spread to London and recently, New York – a hugely popular tourist draw) could be one. Transforming Sydney’s disused monorail track into an elevated cycleway, decorated with flora to resemble New York’s popular attraction, The High Line, could be another. Sydney’s iconic T2 building could be a cyclist mecca. The equivalent of the UK’s excellent Cycle to Work scheme (which lets people my their bike tax-free and pay for it in instalments) could be implemented. Such schemes transformed London so that now, remarkably, a quarter of all commuter vehicles are bicycles.

It’s a transformation that could happen in Australian cities if the first pedal power pollie party attracts enough members.