Election 2022: North Sydney independent candidate

An independent that could win a crucial Liberal seat has been urged to reveal which party she would side with if there’s a hung parliament.

Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman and Independent Kylie Tink were involved in a fiery exchange at the Sky News North Sydney debate. Picture: Richard Dobson

The independent who could win a crucial Liberal-held seat says her decision on who to side with in the event of a hung parliament will be contingent on fuel emissions standards, also revealing she wants the number independents on the crossbench to grow to seven.

Climate 200 backed North Sydney independent Kylea Tink fronted a Sky News debate with incumbent Liberal Trent Zimmerman and Labor candidate Catherine Renshaw on Thursday.

North Sydney is held on a margin of 9.3 per cent by the Liberals but party officials fear Ms Tink could win on her pro-climate and pro-integrity platform.

In the event of a hung parliament, she refused to say whether she would support a Liberal or Labor government, despite her policies aligning more closely with the latter.

She said for most of her life she had been a Liberal voter.

Ms Tink also revealed she would like to see the number of independents on the crossbench rise from four to seven, slamming Labor for being ineffective in opposition.

“It’s very clear, if we’re left in the position of a hung parliament, the Australian citizens would have made it very clear they are unhappy with both of the major parties and neither of the party policy positions have gone far enough,” she said.

“That comes down to getting traction on the issues that matter to the Australian public. That is faster action on climate … it is the establishment of a federal integrity commission.”

She was pressed on whether that meant she would want Anthony Albanese to be Prime Minister.

Labor’s Catherine Renshaw and Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman urged Kylea Tink to say who she would side with. Picture: Richard Dobson

Both Mr Zimmerman and Ms Renshaw pushed her to be transparent with the public.

North Sydney has never been held by Labor.

“It will be my job as the independent for North Sydney to get the best possible deal I can around the things North Sydney are sending me to get that deal on,” she said.

Ms Renshaw said she was “disheartened” by the answer because climate and integrity were two big things that Labor cared about.

“It shouldn’t remain to be seen,” Mr Zimmerman chimed in.

Ms Tink said the two-party system was failing and the crossbench had achieved more than Labor had in the past term.

She said the price of her support in the event of a hung parliament was to pass vehicle and fuel emissions standards.

“We need to get the electric vehicles into Australia as fast as we can,” she said.

“Our third highest contributor to carbon emissions is vehicle emissions.”

Ms Tink wants a 60 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 but said she would be flexible and accept 50 per cent.

Originally published as Election 2022: North Sydney independent candidate