Climate 200 MPs urged to reveal support in hung parliament

Zali Steggall and Dr Sophie Scamps have both said they are waiting for the facts before deciding who to support in a minority government. Their opponents have urged them to be upfront with voters. TAKE OUR POLL

Two Sydney MPs supported by Climate 200 have been urged to reveal who they will support in the event of a hung parliament.

Warringah’s Zali Steggall and Mackellar’s Dr Sophie Scamps have told The Daily Telegraph in recent days they are open to negotiating with Peter Dutton. They both also insist there is no pre-existing deal with Anthony Albanese and Labor.

Dr Scamps said she remained “open” to an agreement with the Coalition: “very happy to work across the aisle.”

“When it comes to policies and good ideas, I am not held to an ideology. I will vote for whatever is a good idea for the people of Mackellar. I’m yet to hear detail from the Coalition side, I look forward to hearing that.”

Ms Steggall claimed that despite her ongoing public criticism of Mr Dutton she could still work with him after May 3.

“I was also critical of Scott Morrison … I worked with the Morrison Government … we pushed them to commit to Net Zero. I’ve also been critical of Anthony Albanese,” she said.

Warringah MP Zali Steggall, in her Manly electorate office. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“I’m being very transparent … (but) we also need all the full facts … including the Coalition’s agreement after the election” Ms Steggall said.

The Liberal candidates in these two seats believe their opponents should be “transparent” with voters.

Jaimee Rogers in Warringah told this masthead it was “hypocritical” for Ms Steggall to “champion transparency while refusing to be open about who she will support in a minority government.”

In Mackellar - James Brown said Dr Scamps should “be upfront about who she is voting for.”

“I think it’s very unlikely that she would support a Liberal government” Mr Brown claimed.

The 2022 election result should there is very little first preference support for the Labor Party in these two seats.

In Warringah - the Liberals had 33% of primary votes compared to Labor’s 8% in 2022.

Jaimee Rogers, Liberal candidate for Warringah, in McMahons Point. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

And just 8% of people also voted Labor in Mackellar at the last election, with the Liberal’s on 41%.

It comes after Dr Scamps defended accepting $75,000 in donations from a company with links to the oil and gas industry, claiming the donor is deeply concerned about climate change in their private life.

Dr Scamps received the money for her 2022 campaign from “Keep Them Honest”, a company run by high-profile fund manager Fred Woollard.

Mr Woollard is also the founder and managing director of Samuel Terry Asset Management, which boasts more than $850 million in funds under management and has two oil and gas companies among its top six holdings.

When asked to explain why she accepted these donations, Dr Scamps told The Daily Telegraph: “As Mr Woollard himself has said – his day job is to make money for his clients, and he does so by investing in a wide variety of assets.

“In his private life he says he likes to encourage climate change action, which is why he has supported my campaign.”

Dr Sophie Scamps, the MP for Mackellar in Narrabeen. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Dr Scamps is seeking re-election after ending a 73-year winning streak for the Liberal Party in Mackellar, which captures the top half of the Northern Beaches, in 2022.

Her grassroots support is significant – her staff claim she has 1500 volunteers working on the campaign. In 2022 she had access to a whopping $1.6m war chest.

Booths in some of Sydney’s most affluent suburbs – where house prices are sometimes eight figures – finished with a majority of votes for Dr Scamps at the last election. That included Newport, Avalon, Palm Beach and Bayview.

Dr Scamps said she won the seat because voters “felt ignored and taken for granted … that nobody was listening to them”.

“We held kitchen table conversations about what they were feeling … and just simply asked people, what’s important to you? And it was incredible the amount of people who said ‘nobody has asked us that’,” Dr Scamps claimed.

The former GP supports a national sugar tax and restrictions on junk food advertising on mainstream media: “it’s critical that we protect our greatest resource – our children” she said. She also wants a national ban on gambling advertising.

Dr Scamps ended 72 years of blue-ribbon dominance in Mackeller at the 2022 poll.

Her new Liberal opponent, Mr Brown, conceded the party’s traditional voters “gave us a really clear signal last time. They didn’t think we were listening hard enough. We got the whack on the nose.”

“We’ve seen Australia go backwards in the last three years … and we’ve seen very little happen here in Mackellar. It’s almost been invisible to the Albanese government” Mr Brown claimed.

Brown served 10 years in the Defence Force, including two deployments in Iraq. He is also the former boss of the NSW RSL.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has described Mr Brown as an “exceptional candidate”, while the MP who held this seat for 22 years, Bronwyn Bishop, said Mr Brown was “working hard, getting around the electorate and meeting people”.

Liberal candidate for Mackellar James Brown at Long Reef Beach

With a redistribution which shifted 12,600 voters from Warringah, the new margin for Mackellar is just 1.77 per cent.

The biggest issue for the Liberals in a former stronghold is preferences. In 2022 they won the primary vote, but fell short on the final two-party preferred.

There are nine candidates running in Mackellar - Dr Scamps, Mr Brown, Labor, the Greens, One Nation, Libertarian, Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots and two other independents.

Voters will win in one aspect, no matter who claims the seat – the Coalition has also promised to fix the shocking condition of Mona Vale Road.

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Originally published as Climate 200 MPs urged to reveal support in hung parliament