Confident Abbott: I’ve beaten Independents before, I can do it again

Independent candidate for Tony Abbott’s seat of Warringah Zali Steggall has refuted the former PM’s claim on Twitter that she supported the carbon tax after he dubbed her the “carbon tax candidate” and, in turn labelled Mr Abbott “desperate” and “out of touch”.

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Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dubbed independent candidate Zali Steggall who is contesting his seat of Warringah the “carbon tax candidate” for her stance on climate change.

But Ms Steggall returned fire on Twitter on Wednesday night labelling Mr Abbott “desperate and out of touch” for making the false claim.

Ms Steggall announced her candidature for the seat the Liberals have held since 1969 on Sunday, saying she had grassroots support from Warringah locals who wanted action on climate change.

Mr Abbott labelled Ms Steggall on 2GB as he revealed he was confident he would defeat her challenge like he had seen off other strong Independents in the past.

Zali Steggall in Manly. Picture: Jordan Shields

Tony Abbott dubbed the former Olympic skier as a “carbon tax candidate”. Picture Gary Ramage

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“I have seen off some fairly significant challenges over the years and without anyway being complacent I am confident of a similar result this time,” he told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.

He said voting for Ms Steggall, a former Olympic skier, would mean more expensive and less reliable power because she said she wants to take action on climate change.

Zali Steggall’s campaign manager Louise Hislop (L) with former Abbott challenger James Mathison. Picture: Facebook

“That means she is the carbon tax candidate because it is all very well saying we’ve got to do more, but there is a cost to doing more, a very heavy cost.”

“There is no way we can suddenly do a whole lot more on climate change without putting power prices through the roof, without putting reliability through the floor without, closing down a whole lot of important industries.”

Mr Abbott received 51.5 per cent of the vote and the Liberal party received 61 per cent two party preferred vote in the 2016 federal election in Warringah.

Independent Candidate James Mathison received significant media attention during his campaign to unseat Mr Abbott but he received just 11.41 per cent of the primary vote.