Election 2022: Climate 200 wrongly spruiks independent as aligned

A candidate in the seat of Hughes has blasted the climate group for promoting her as an aligned contender without her consent.

Linda Seymour, independent candidate for the seat of Hughes. Picture: Britta Campion

Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 has come under fire from an independent candidate in the ­Sydney seat of Hughes who says she was falsely promoted on the group’s website as one of its aligned candidates without her consent.

Linda Seymour, standing against the Climate 200-backed independent Georgia Steele in Hughes, told The Australian she was appalled when she was shown a website photo and profile of ­herself with the Climate 200 logo last week.

The Climate 200 website said: “You’re in Hughes and your local independent is: Linda Seymour.”

Under a smiling photo of Ms Seymour, a Climate 200-penned profile said she was a long-term Sutherland Shire local who was “running as an independent in the seat of Hughes on a platform of climate change, integrity and economic prosperity”.

Ms Seymour said she contacted Climate 200’s executive director Byron Fay by text message on Thursday: “Can you please remove me from your website? I have no relationship with C200. This is inappropriate.”

Mr Fay texted back: “We included all values aligned independents in our search tool, but clearly indicated which ones we’re supporting. No worries at all, we’ll remove you.”

Ms Seymour said she sent a further terse text about “our values not aligning”.

She told The Australian she ­remained angry that the website had said “Linda Seymour – ­Climate 200” with her profile.

“I was not asked, nor did I give permission for my profile to be linked,” she said. “I find it highly inappropriate to have me on their website as I have no association. I am a genuine grassroots Hughes independent.”

Ms Seymour said she was campaigning on climate change and integrity, but Climate 200 had amended one of her main policies by adding “economic prosperity”.

“I thought, I’ve never said that,” she said. “That’s a given, like saying we want comfortable shoes. Everyone wants economic prosperity. But given I’m a local candidate, I’ve got to work ­responsibly with whatever government is elected.”

The website profile of Linda Seymour, with Climate 200 logo included.

Ms Seymour said Climate 200’s attempted alignment in ­Hughes was especially galling when it had previously snubbed her for funding support, instead backing Ms Steele. She was also angry because Climate 200 had accused her of spreading “falsehoods on Twitter” during the campaign but had then promoted her on its website.

The Australian has previously reported how Climate 200-backed Ms Steele was originally part of a community group ­created by Ms Seymour called We Are Hughes.

With Ms Steele in that group, We Are Hughes identified climate change and integrity as two key local issues. It then held a selection process to choose a local independent to stand against ex-Liberal MP Craig Kelly, now a United Australian Party candidate, and the Liberals’ replacement candidate, Jenny Ware.

Ms Seymour was stunned when Ms Steele abruptly dropped out of We Are Hughes, which could have chosen Ms Steele as its candidate when Kerryn Phelps was not available. Ms Steele instead ran “in her own right” and gained Climate 200’s backing.

With Ms Steele out, We Are Hughes confirmed Ms Seymour as its community candidate.

Ms Seymour said she had discussions with Climate 200 but could not meet its local funding requirements. She was now much happier as a local without Climate 200 support, she said.

A Climate 200 spokesman said the group had “immediately complied” with Ms Seymour’s request to remove her from its website.

In addition to its own candidates, the spokesman said, Climate 200 had “developed a search tool where members of the public can find independents that we understood to be aligned with the values of Climate 200’s 10,000-plus donors”.

The spokesman said several ­independents not supported by Climate 200 had been included in the tool “in the interests of fairness”, while those supported such as Ms Steele were “clearly marked as such”.

Ms Seymour said her bid to win Hughes was further complicated because voters could be confused by the AEC’s ballot paper. A candidate with a similar name, ­Narelle Seymour, from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, is No.5 while Linda Seymour is No.6.