Election 2022: GetUp is all about winning, not policy

The GetUp campaign group has confirmed it recommends election candidates to voters based on their prospects of winning as a ‘necessary’ condition.

GetUp’s national director Paul Oosting. Picture: Jane Dempster

The GetUp campaign group has confirmed it recommends election candidates to voters based on their prospects of winning as a “necessary” condition – over and above the position candidates might take on issues such as ­climate change.

GetUp’s national director Paul Oosting told North Sydney barrister and election candidate Victor Kline that he was ultimately left out of a how-to-vote preference guide issued by GetUp because it considered he could not defeat sitting Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman.

Following a written complaint from Mr Kline protesting why no GetUp how-to-vote card was issued for him in North Sydney, Mr Oosting replied to Mr Kline on Monday that he did meet some criteria to qualify for a GetUp-­issued how-to-vote card.

But Mr Oosting said Mr Kline had not demonstrated he was “in contention of winning, which is necessary to be featured on GetUp’s guides”.

Mr Kline told The Australian that the rebuff was evidence that GetUp was partial to some candidates and not politically neutral as it claimed because it put its “subjective view” of a candidate’s chances of winning ahead of policy considerations.

According to Mr Kline, he completed a recent GetUp survey which asked all candidates in North Sydney to outline their policies on climate change and other matters to gauge “which candidates are committed to making real progress on our key issues”.

He said the GetUp survey did not include a requirement that candidates demonstrate their ­capacity to win as condition of ­receiving a GetUp how-to-vote recommendation.

Mr Kline, who leads TNL, a party formerly known as The New Liberals, said he demonstrated in the survey a policy commitment on climate change – a priority for GetUp – “superior” to the net-zero emissions targets supported by all other candidates.

However, he said GetUp ignored him and issued how-to-vote cards only for Ms Tink, Labor candidate Catherine Renshaw and Greens candidate Heather Armstrong.

Labor and the Greens are considered to have almost no chance of winning in North Sydney, a Liberal seat held by Mr Zimmerman with a 9.3 per cent margin.

Mr Zimmerman is most under threat from Ms Tink, who has received big funding support from Climate 200 and is campaigning mainly on climate and integrity in politics. Like Ms Tink, Mr Kline would need to come second to Mr Zimmerman and then score a 51 per cent majority with preferences to win.

Mr Kline told The Australian GetUp’s omission of him from its how-to-vote guide could give people in North Sydney the false impression that he and his party had a “worse climate policy” than other candidates, and potentially cause them to change their votes.

He claimed GetUp had not acted in good faith and could be in breach of section 329 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act related to the distribution of election material “that is likely to mislead or deceive an elector”.

GetUp has issued 30 how-to-vote guides, eight of them in NSW including North Sydney.

Its survey to help determine GetUp’s voter recommendations asked candidates to show they were “committed to making real progress on our key issues” and that they had “community support”. Candidates were told GetUp prioritised candidates whose public statements “are aligned with the GetUp movement’s core values”.

GetUp has received much criticism from the Liberal Party, with claims it is really an arm of Labor or the Greens and is biased against Liberals moderates such as Mr Zimmerman.

Mr Oosting dismissed Mr Kline’s claim that GetUp had breached the Electoral Act.