Liberals lash out at Climate 200 independents as election campaign heats up

Tensions between the Liberals and Climate 200 independents have bubbled over with several high profile MPs fighting for their political lives.

Liberal MPs have ramped up their attacks on the “teal independents” who may hold the keys to governing the nation after the federal election on May 21.

With all polling indicating a tight contest, several Liberal MPs are fighting not only Labor candidates, but independents who are hoping to woo traditionally conservative voters with climate change and integrity policies.

If the election results in a hung parliament where neither the Coalition nor Labor secures the 76 seats needed to form government, the party who governs would need to negotiate with cross bench MPs, including any Climate 200-backed candidates who make it into Parliament.

Stronger action on climate change and a legislated government integrity body will top these independents’ list of demands, with individual candidates indicating they would push for a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of as much as 60 per cent by 2030.

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese have both said they will not negotiate with independents to form government, with the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader this week saying they believed their parties could win enough seats to govern in their own right.

But it’s impossible for both of these statements to be correct and it’s looking increasingly likely that neither of them will be.

The Climate 200 fund is bankrolling 22 candidates in seats across Australia, some of whom are backed by grassroots “Voices” movements, including several high profile women who are contesting inner city electorates that have long been the stronghold of moderate Liberals.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg faces a fierce battle for Kooyong where he is being challenged by Dr Monique Ryan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

Simon Holmes a Court founded the Climate 200 campaign fundraising vehicle. Photo: Aaron Francis / The Australian

Established by Australian activist and businessman Simon Holmes a Court and bolstered by more than $10m in donations, the fund is also supporting incumbent independent MPs Zali Steggall, Rebekha Sharkie, Helen Haines and Andrew Wilkie to run again.

Among its most high profile political hopefuls are former ABC journalist Zoe Daniel, paediatric neurologist Monique Ryan and businesswomen Allegra Spender, who are respectively contesting the Liberal-held Melbourne seats of Goldstein and Kooyong and Sydney’s Wentworth.

The Liberal MPs in these seats, Josh Frydenberg, Tim Wilson and Dave Sharma, have claimed their rivals are “fake independents” and accused them of acting as a political party because they are mainly targeting Liberal-held seats.

Goldstein MP Tim Wilson has lashed out on social media as he faces a challenge from former foreign correspondent Zoe Daniel. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Tensions between Mr Holmes a Court, Liberal MPs, independent candidates and the “Voices” movements have boiled over on social media as the intensity of the election campaign heats up.

Mr Wilson, who holds Goldstein on a margin of 7.8 per cent, has regularly lashed out on Twitter as he tries to ward off Ms Daniel’s campaign.

He has represented the well-heeled bayside suburbs of southeast Melbourne including Brighton and Hampton since the 2016 federal election.

On Tuesday he shared a screenshot of an article in The Australian newspaper that said Ms Daniel didn’t say whether she supported the AUKUS military alliance between Australia, the US and UK because its “merits are yet to be determined”.

“This is insane. We have Climate 200 independents who won’t even back our alliances and the Greens that want to hollow out the Australian Defence Force. Neither appreciate the scale of the challenge Australia faces. They are not what Australia needs now,” Mr Wilson wrote.

He claimed a hung Parliament would “be hostage to Greens” and “fake independents that won’t make decisions in the national interest”.

He claimed last Friday that flyers pasted around his electorate calling for voters to “dump him” had been put up by “outsiders”.

“We have so many outsiders from Extinction Rebellion, GetUp!, those with terrible design skills, Climate 200 fake independents and their millions of dollars all trying to buy our community like an acquisition for a trust fund. One message: our community isn’t for sale!” he wrote.

Mr Homes A Court came to Ms Daniel’s defence, tweeting: “Forget about the outsiders @TimWilsonMP. It’s @ZDaniel you need to worry about!”

The Voices of Goldstein group has also retaliated and attempted to convince voters of what it says is Mr Wilson’s poor track record on climate change policies.

Originally published as Liberals lash out at Climate 200 independents as election campaign heats up