Rita Panahi: Voters must not fool themselves into thinking teal candidates are a Liberal alternative

If you’re among the multitude of voters disillusioned with the Liberals, then for the love of God don’t waste your vote on the vacuous, entitled teal candidates.

Here’s some sage advice for those disillusioned with the Scott Morrison government, including the affluent doctors’ wives demographic, who can’t bring themselves to vote for the Liberals again: vote 1 Labor.

At least Labor are largely honest about who they are and what they believe – with the exception of border protection, carbon price and foreign policy, Anthony Albanese’s mob are upfront about what they’ll do if elected.

They may have not costed their policies but they’ve released them.

Meanwhile, Simon Holmes a Court’s teal ladies are maintaining the outrageous lie that they have no idea which side they’ll back despite their candidates falling somewhere between the Greens and Labor on the political spectrum. Indeed, many of their candidates would fit comfortably in the Greens.

When it comes to their single issue policy, climate change, it is abundantly clear that the radical, and frankly ruinous, changes they are demanding are closer to Labor’s climate promises than those of the Coalition.

Independent candidate for Goldstein Zoe Daniel. Picture: Brendan Beckett

Independent candidate for Kooyong Monique Ryan. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

And yet the fake independents claim they are undecided about whether they’ll back Labor or the Coalition in the event of a hung parliament.

They are relying on a combination of apathy and anger to get elected in the country’s richest electorates. They are not interested in the outer suburbs or regional areas nor in the plight of low income earners who’ll be most impacted by their policies.

Clearly they think their target market is too thick to look into the candidate’s positions and party affiliations – from Zoe Daniel’s anti-Israel views to Monique Ryan’s Labor Party membership – before they all donned teal T-shirts and started accepting fat cheques from Holmes a Court.

Of course you can cast your vote in any way you please but don’t fool yourself into thinking the teal candidates are a Liberal alternative.

They are a Greens alternative, one or two of them could be considered a Labor alternative, but what they are not is genuinely independent nor Liberal-lite options.

A vote for a Climate 200 fake independent is a sign you’re a low information voter or one that is dangerously gullible. Or perhaps you’re a rent-seeker with substantial investments in renewables.

Climate 200's Simon Holmes a Court candidates are maintaining the outrageous lie that they have no idea which side they’ll back. Picture: Josie Hayden

Whatever your politics, the least you would expect from any candidate or party is some basic level of honesty and transparency about who they are and who and what they’ll back.

The reluctance of this group to be open about their obvious Leftist leanings and preference for Labor is troubling.

Say what you will about the wackadoodle Greens – yes, they’re reckless Marxist hysterics with policy positions that would bankrupt the nation and expose the region to unchecked Chinese aggression – but at least they are honest about who they are, what they believe and importantly who they’ll back in the case of a hung parliament.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has not only vowed to partner with Labor but has outlined some of the demands he wants an Albanese government to meet.

If you’re among the multitude of disaffected Liberal voters looking at alternatives in next Saturday’s federal poll, then for the love of God don’t waste your vote on the vacuous, entitled Climate 200 impostors.

Just vote for Labor instead.