Liberals cry foul over Teal ‘message testing’ marginal blitz

Climate 200 polling in Bradfield has spruiked Nicolette Boele’s role as a ‘clean-energy executive’ and credentials as a ‘local mum’, before asking voters if they had heard of her.

The backer of the teals movement, Simon Holmes Holmes à Court. Picture: Martin Ollman

Climate 200’s best hope of taking a Liberal-held seat is being forced to defend her credibility after the progressive fundraising body claimed it was not engaging in “misleading push polling” for labelling Bradfield teal Nicolette Boele as a “clean-energy executive” and “local mum” in a “message-testing” blitz to voters.

Ms Boele has ramped up her campaign of 1000-plus volunteers to snare blue-ribbon Sydney-based Bradfield – after nearly pulling off victory in 2022 – but the Liberals have warned voters of the progressive group’s “hidden agenda”.

High-profile Liberals Dan Tehan and Julian Leeser are fending off cashed-up campaigns backed by Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200, which is supporting 35 candidates in the May election.

But the retirement of Bradfield incumbent Paul Fletcher – who held the seat in 2022 with a 4.2 per cent margin – has emboldened Ms Boele and Climate 200 in the knife-edge race with Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian.

The Liberals have zeroed in on Climate 200’s “misleading” use of “push polling” by pollster uComms, most recently on Thursday in the seat of Monash, but also last month in Bradfield.

“Teal politicians talk a big game about integrity and transparency, but their actions tell a different story,” Liberal campaign spokesman James Paterson said.

Simon Holmes à Court and Nicolette Boele during the candidate’s 2022 tilt. Picture: Supplied

Bradfield teal independent candidate Nicolette Boele takes a selfie with volunteers. Picture: Instagram

“From misleading push polling to refusing to say who they would support in a hung parliament, they consistently hide their true agenda from voters. Voters deserve honesty, not political games from a group that claims to be independent while marching in lock-step with the Greens.”

In that Bradfield polling, sent via text message to residents, uComms spruiked Ms Boele’s role as a “clean-energy executive” and her credentials as a “local mum”, before asking voters if they had heard of her.

Another question proposed that Ms Boele was “fed up with her community being taken for granted”, and that she would “stand as a representative of the people” and “reflect the community’s values”.

The question then asked: “Knowing what you do now, which of the following would receive your first preference vote in the House of Representatives if an election was held today?”

Of the two-candidate-preferred question included in the text, and shared with the media, the polling recorded Ms Boele winning the seat with 53 per cent of the vote.

In Monash, where Climate 200-backed Deb Leonard is having a second tilt at the marginal seat, Thursday’s message from the same pollster spruiked that she was a “community lawyer, small-business owner and working mum”, before asking if voters had heard of her.

Senator James Paterson, the Liberals’ campaign spokesman. Picture: Martin Ollman

However, Climate 200 has batted down Liberal criticism of its polling, with a group spokesman previously describing “desperate attacks” that were part of the Coalition’s “media manipulation tactics”.

“We’ve seen them (the tactics) many times before, and they (the Liberals) are wrong,” he said.

Climate 200’s usage of partner uComms was not “push polling”, the two groups said, rather “message testing” aligned with Australian Polling Council guidelines – of which the pollster is a founding member – and that only the simple voting intention question was shared with the media.

The message-tested vote intentions – unlike the voting intention question – are used for internal campaign reasons only and not shared with the media.

Those questions and responses are then used to assess how voter groups respond to the message, helping inform strategy ahead of the May 3 poll.

Ms Boele – who appears set to receive preferences from the Bradfield Greens – said her team had been “doorknocking for months”, and expected to add “several hundred” more volunteers across the campaign to her already 1000-plus team.

Liberal candidate for Bradfield Gisele Kapterian. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

“So far, we've knocked on over 12,100 doors and we have about 1000 yard signs spread around the electorate,” she said.

“For 75 years Bradfield has been represented by five MPs, from the one party. It’s been a safe seat and we’ve been taken for granted.”

“Push polling” has been deployed by both sides of the political aisle, with Goldstein independent MP Zoe Daniel condemning “dirty tactics” earlier in March after one targeting her seat painted her as a “teal MP who receives significant funding from Simon Holmes a Court, a billionaire investor”.

JWS Research polling of almost 800 people in Kooyong, released on Thursday, showed Monique Ryan’s vote had dived, with a similar sample in Goldstein revealing Zoe Daniel was way behind Liberal rival Tim Wilson.

Dr Ryan, who this week was forced to apologise after her husband was filmed removing candidate signs for Liberal Amelia Hamer, is clinging to a narrow 51-49 per cent lead.

The surveys were conducted by leading pollster JWS Research a fortnight ago.

However, the Liberals will face difficulty reclaiming Sydney teal seats Mackellar and Warringah and, while the party has campaigned hard and early against Allegra Spender in Wentworth, recent polling suggests the incumbent will retain her seat.