Kylea Tink is the latest high-profile independent candidate to target a Liberal stronghold

Independent candidate Kylea Tink has captured the attention of the people of North Sydney, even converting some lifelong Liberal voters.

Kylea Tink is taking on the Liberal party in North Sydney. Picture: John Appleyard

Between them, the Etherdens have voted for the Liberal party without fail at more than a century’s worth of elections.

North Sydney has historically been a safe Liberal seat and has been held by the party since 1996.

The sitting MP, Trent Zimmerman, is a highly regarded progressive member of the Liberal Party and, as the first openly gay man to sit in the House of Representatives, he was instrumental in passing marriage equality legislation.

But in the early ’90s North Sydney was won by the celebrated “father of the independents” Ted Mack, who retired after two terms despite his incredible popularity to avoid getting a parliamentary pension – a perk of the job to which he took a dim view.

Lindsay, 81, a retired project manager and Leigh, 73, who had a career in the not-for-profit sector, both say they admired the fiscal responsibilities of the Liberal Party and so pushed their niggling concerns aside for years as lifelong Liberal voters.

Mrs Etherden was the first of the Chatswood couple to announce she would be defecting.

“I’d been disillusioned for quite a long time. I’d think, ‘I can’t possibly vote for the conservatives again’ but then when I thought, ‘well, I could just vote Labor’ that didn’t resonate with me either,” she says.

Lindsay and Leigh Etherden are volunteers for the Kylie Tink campaign. Picture: John Appleyard

So when Mrs Etherden heard about Kylea Tink and her socially progressive but financially conservative policies, not only did she resolve to change her vote, but she volunteered on the campaign and is now the Chatswood area captain.

It wasn’t long before Mr Etherden became one of her volunteer recruits, with the pair spurred on by their growing concerns about climate change.

“I’ve lost my way with the majors. I’ve never had much truck with Labor and the Liberals, well, they seem to have retreated into the church and slammed the door,” Mr Etherden said.

“We have a little place on the south coast in Ulladulla. It faced bushfires three times and it was just the luck of a wind change that saved us. I don’t get it, the ‘I don’t hold the hose’ sort of attitude.

“They look at things through the prism of a financial spreadsheet. It’s not in tune at all with people on the ground and I put it down to the fact a lot of these people are born and raised and studied to be professional politicians.

“God help us if they actually had to earn a crust in the real world.”

Tink, 50, has never before run for politics.

The Northbridge mum of three teenagers has a career in advocacy and communications spanning three decades.

Born in Coonabarabran, she first came to Sydney in 1994 to work on an anti-tobacco campaign for NSW Health.

She’s been chief executive for the McGrath Foundation and Camp Quality and worked her way up to become the managing director at marketing and communications firm Edelman after joining as a junior consultant.

At home with her children Kate (17), Maeve (14) and James (18), and family dogs PJ and Bailey. Picture: John Appleyard

During her tenure at the McGrath Foundation, Tink oversaw the creation of the Pink Test.

She was campaign manager for the We’re Better Than This Australia group, which successfully lobbied to get 750 children released from offshore detention.

“So I was doing all those things and enjoying it and then I heard our Prime Minister come out and say about a gas-fired power station, if NSW won’t pay for it, then we will – with taxpayers’ dollars,” Tink says.

“The next day I heard Mike Cannon-Brookes from (tech firm) Atlassian say in an interview that our PM saying that is the equivalent of him coming to work tomorrow and telling the staff we can only use an abacus.

“My heart space clicked. This is about our children’s future environment. And then my advocacy brain clicked because I felt there must be a lot of people feeling the same way.

“Focusing on renewable energy, it makes sense economically – it’s just smart business.”

So now her next challenge is to take the seat of North Sydney from the Liberal Party and use the growing power wielded by the crossbench to enact change.

“My observation is I think we get the best form of government when there is a strong crossbench,” Tink says.

“Without a strong crossbench, it seems the debates are happening behind party room doors – they just come into Parliament House and vote the way the whips tell them to.

“That level of transparency, having the debates in parliament, should be a bare minimum we expect.

“Our campaign catchcry is to Change the Climate in Canberra and I think that sums us up so well.”

Working in her home office. Picture: John Appleyard

Tink has lived in North Sydney for 15 years, first in the ’burbs of Naremburn to raise her young family and then to Northbridge, where she has lived for the past seven years.

“The North Sydney electorate is my home and I am very committed to it. I’ve always been the kind of person who is sleeves up when there’s work to be done,” Tink says.

“Even if it’s just cooking an extra serve of dinner for a mate who’s doing it tough, it is sincere and I think it is sincere from growing up in a small town. You worked together there to get the tennis courts you wanted, to get anything you needed.

“I do fundamentally believe that there is so much power in individuals coming together around a belief in something.

“When someone says, ‘but I’m just one person, I can’t do anything’ – I just don’t believe that.

“Having the strength or willingness to stand up and say ‘I don’t agree with that’ is a very powerful thing.”

When Team Tink launched its campaign via Zoom, it was joined by two women who had done it all before.

Both Zali Steggall, who wrestled neighbouring Warringah from Tony Abbott, and Professor Kerryn Phelps, who was the first non-Liberal to ever win Wentworth in Sydney’s east, were there cheering her on.

Steggall tells the Mosman Daily she has an important message for the people of North Sydney: “Currently, government only has a majority of one. We’ve had a couple of votes where the speaker had to be a deciding vote, so it’s a very tight parliament.

“Your vote in North Sydney could be the deciding vote about whether we have a proper federal integrity commission, proper climate policy.

Tink is pushing for a stronger national climate agenda. Picture: John Appleyard

“The Liberals like to run the line of the whole ‘a vote for an independent is a vote for Labor’ and it’s rubbish. I’ve taken the opposition to task as much as I have the Liberals.

“You, with your vote, have the ability to make a much greater difference.”

The thing about Zimmerman, though, is he is about as far removed from the highly conservative Abbott as any Liberal could be.

The battle for North Sydney is going to be distinctly different to the one that was waged over Warringah.

Zimmerman tells the Mosman Daily he has never taken his seat for granted.

“It’s part of a vibrant democracy that we have contests like this. I will be proudly standing on my record both of my time as North Sydney’s MP and previous to that through my long involvement in our community,” he says.

At a local level, Zimmerman gained funding to invest in public open space at Sub Base Platypus and to upgrade Woolwich Dock.

A strong advocate for net-zero emissions by 2050 and renewable energy, Zimmerman says he has concerns about Australia’s ability to navigate the next few years with a hung parliament.

“A member of parliament inside the tent can help drive change in government rather than throwing stones from outside,” he says.

“As we emerge from the pandemic, it is important to have a government able to progress policies in the national interest.

“There is a significant risk a hung parliament will not provide the stable environment to do that.

Trent Zimmerman MP in his electoral office in North Sydney. Picture: John Appleyard

“It is important the Liberal Party has strong progressive voices, and it makes no sense to me why independent groups are seeking to extinguish Liberal MPs who support sensible policies on issues like climate change.”

When he’s not involved in his new-found passion of volunteering on a political campaign, Mr Etherden enjoys the arts. He recently entered a painting in the Ku-ring-gai Food for Thought exhibition.

“It’s a work of art done well before my involvement with Kylea showing how my thinking is going,” Mr Etherden says.

“It shows the red tide of climate change coming in with the dreaded tide of Covid and I tried to illustrate how this was all terribly, terribly mishandled and continues to be.

“Is this how it has to be? No, I don’t think so.”

LIBERALS

Trent Zimmerman

The incumbent, Zimmerman has been representing North Sydney since 2015, when he successfully held the seat for the Liberals upon Joe Hockey’s retirement. He was the first openly gay man to sit in the House of Representatives and is a vocal supporter of LGBT+ issues.

Prior to his tilt at federal politics, Zimmerman was elected to the North Sydney Council in Wollstonecraft Ward from 2004 to 2012.

His career includes a stint as deputy chief executive officer of the Tourism and Transport Forum, which involved advocacy for Australian tourism and public transport.

THE NEW LIBERALS

Victor Kline

Kline is a barrister and founder of the Refugee Law Project, a group offering people seeking asylum in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia pro bono representation.

Much like the independents, Kline says his policies are economically conservative but socially progressive.

The arts industry veteran is regularly involved in theatrical productions and has had fleeting

appearances on Australian TV shows including Home and Away, All Saints and Packed to the Rafters.

LABOR

Labor is still finalising preselection and has indicated it will be in a position to name candidates in all federal seats in the coming weeks.

FEDERAL ELECTION AT A GLANCE

An election must be held on a Saturday between now and May 21, 2022. The timing is up to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who must give at least five weeks’ notice of the election.