Indigenous woman set to take on Tony Abbott at federal election
THE first independent candidate to sign on to tackle Tony Abbott at this year’s federal election has been named — indigenous woman Susan Moylan-Coombs.
Manly
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THE first independent candidate to sign on to tackle Tony Abbott at this year’s federal election has been named.
Susan Moylan-Coombs, a lifelong northern beaches’ resident and a member of the Stolen Generation, wants the former prime minister’s seat of Warringah as well as his job as the government’s Special Envoy on indigenous affairs.
Ms Moylan-Coombs, has been active on indigenous issues through her years as a producer with National indigenous Television — a division of SBS — and the ABC.
She is also the founding director of the Gaimaragal Group, a First Nation company that supports the development of the indigenous community and she is the adopted daughter of the late John Coombs QC and granddaughter of H.C. “Nugget” Coombs, a former Governor of the Reserve Bank and a respected political adviser to a number of prime ministers, especially on indigenous issues.
Her candidacy comes months after community groups like Voices of Warringah and Think Twice Warringah sprang up, vowing to end Mr Abbott’s parliamentary career.
Lobby group GetUp! has also been signing up residents in Warringah to its “Take on Tony” project in an effort to get an independent elected next year.
It believes Mr Abbott is vulnerable on coal-fired power stations, climate change, keeping child refugees in detention on Nauru and voting against marriage equality laws.
Ms Moylan-Coombs, a mother of two adult children, who grew up in Harbord and lives at Killarney Heights, said her campaign would be self-funded.
“I’m not in cahoots with any of them, ” she said. “I am truly independent.
“I want to run a clean race. I specifically didn’t want to be part of a party because I want to be able to speak with integrity and authenticity.
“I want to take the voices of what is going on in Warringah down to Canberra and not be beholden to the parties.”
Her campaign will focus on climate change policy, more money for public broadcasting and indigenous affairs, especially the need for a First Nations’ voice in the federal parliament — issues she said were important for generations to come.
Ms Moylan-Coombs said she could “no longer watch from the sidelines”.
She pointed out that her community spirit began as a teen in the late 1970s, when she became one of Australia’s first female surf lifesavers and the first indigenous surf lifesaver at South Curl Curl Beach.
“I’m not going into politics to be liked by everybody. I know that there are people who aren’t going to like what I say, and I’m OK with that.
“As an indigenous woman in this country, and living in this area, people will judge me by the colour of my skin.
“People have fixed thoughts around certain subjects. So I can only meet them and have a human interaction, a human conversation and if they like what they hear then we can shift the conversation.
“But some people are so fixed in their thoughts that I get to the point and say ‘you know what, that’s OK’ and we can agree to disagree.”
Mr Abbott told the Manly Daily late last year that he had never taken Warringah for granted.
“I’m certainly not going to be taking it for granted this time, because I accept there will be a lot of so-called independents, all of whom will be running against the Liberal Party and against me.”
Northern Beaches mayor Michael Regan has also been mentioned as a possible independent candidate. Local businessman Dean Harris has been endorsed as Labor’s candidate.
The GetUp! campaign comes as an underground political group, Think Twice Warringah, targeted the electorate with a series of posters using quotes attributed to the former prime minister.
The group members want to stay anonymous but a spokesman said: “Our message is simple — hold Tony to account for his views and comments over the last 24 years as the Member for Warringah, and in turn, have voters reconsider their vote in 2019.”