‘Loose with the truth’: Josh Frydenberg hits back at candidate

Josh Frydenberg has accused an independent candidate of being “loose with the truth” after he failed to show up for a debate.

The independent candidate hoping to topple Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has hit back at claims she’s a fake.

Mr Frydenberg has repeatedly accused Monique Ryan of being a “fake independent” given she has financial backing of the Climate 200 group and is running on a similar platform as other “teal” challengers.

But speaking with ABC’s Radio National on Thursday, Dr Ryan said she didn’t care what the Treasurer thought of her.

“Mr Frydenberg doesn’t understand the power of the community movement that I represent,” she said.

“He can say what he likes about me … but I could no longer be complicit with the government’s inaction on climate change.”

Her remarks come after Mr Frydenberg refused to show up for a local candidates’ forum on Wednesday evening with the other contenders for the inner-Melbourne seat of Kooyong.

Mr Frydenberg turned down an invitation from climate advocacy group Lighter Footprints to join the debate, which was attended by Dr Ryan and the Greens and Labor candidates.

Issuing a statement explaining his decision, Mr Frydenberg said participating would have been akin to attending a campaign rally organised by “my political opponents”.

Mr Frydenberg has ramped up the pressure for Dr Ryan to debate him on Nine. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

“This is not to say that climate change is not a very important issue. It is,” he said.

“I welcome a fair and balanced debate in a nonpartisan forum about the important issues facing my community.”

Dr Ryan turned down an invitation to debate Mr Frydenberg in a televised one-on-one on Channel 9, although she has since agreed to a similar style debate on Sky for next week because it will be held in Kooyong.

At a press conference in the Melbourne seat of McEwen, Mr Frydenberg called his opponent’s reasoning ridiculous.

“Earlier this month (Dr Ryan) went to an event in Toorak. Earlier this month, they went to an event in Fitzroy,” he told reporters.

“Tonight they’re scheduled to go to a fundraising event in Brunswick. The last time I looked Brunswick was not in the electorate.”

“This fake independent in my electorate of Kooyong is finding it pretty easy to be loose with the truth.”

Dr Ryan is a paediatric neurologist at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital who is running largely on a platform of climate change action.

She was briefly a member of the Labor Party about the time Kevin Rudd was prime minister.

Josh Frydenberg has repeatedly accused his Kooyong challenger of being a ‘fake’ independent. NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

Asked about her Labor membership on Thursday, Dr Ryan noted former Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson, “another doctor of conscience”, was also a Labor Party member.

“But this is the distant past,” she said.

Dr Ryan has amassed more than 2000 volunteers who are residents of the once blue-ribbon Liberal electorate.

“(They) are frustrated and disaffected with the Liberal-National Party government. They want this campaign because they want change,” she said.

On Wednesday, Mr Frydenberg called Dr Ryan’s transparency into question, cautioning Kooyong voters not to vote for her.

“They (independent candidates) are running as a political party, they have no policy details, they have no costings. It’s the vibe of the thing,” Mr Frydenberg said.

Monique Ryan won’t confirm who she will support in the event of a hung parliament, if she is elected. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

Dr Ryan on Thursday declined to say who she would support in the event of her being elected to a hung parliament, but insisted neither major party had satisfactory policies.

“You’re comparing a bad apple with a bad orange. Neither of them are good enough,” she said.

“The power of the independents is that we can bring the major parties to the table and compel them to act on the things that matter to the electorate.”

Dr Ryan had previously indicated she would lend her support to whichever party had a more ambitious emissions reduction target.

Both major parties are aiming for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Labor has a more ambitious short term goal of a 43 per cent reduction on 2005 levels by 2030, compared with the Coalition’s 26 to 28 per cent target.