Election 2022: Kooyong candidate Monique Ryan says ‘no co-ordination’ in Climate 200 group

Independent Kooyong candidate Monique Ryan says there is no co-ordination behind the Climate 200 group, and they give each other only ‘emotional support’.

Kooyong independent candidate Monique Ryan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

Independent Kooyong candidate Monique Ryan says there is no ­co-ordination behind the Climate 200 campaigning group, claiming they only give each other ­“emotional support”.

It comes as she continues to ­refuse to debate her opponent Josh Frydenberg on the Nine Network despite repeated calls from the Treasurer and journalist Chris Uhlmann, saying she “doesn’t want to leave (her) electorate to go to Dockside” in Melbourne.

Dr Ryan has agreed to debate Mr Frydenberg on Sky News next week.

Speaking to the ABC on Thursday, Dr Ryan said there was “no organisation” behind the Climate 200 group, arguing that it was just a narrative being pushed by the Coalition.

The independent candidates are all running against moderate Liberals in inner-city Melbourne and Sydney seats, and include former ABC journalist Zoe Daniel in Liberal MP Tim Wilson’s electorate of Goldstein, and Allegra Spender, daughter of late fashion designer Carla Zampatti, in Dave Sharma’s electorate of Wentworth.

Dr Ryan said she had “limited” contact with the other Climate 200 independents, and said accusations that the group was working together was “completely false”.

She said she was happy to take money from Climate 200 because the “action group” shares the same priorities as she does.

“There is no organisation ­behind this, that is completely false,” Dr Ryan said. “I am being funded by 2000 people, 2000 individual donors.

“It would be remiss of us not to have spoken to each other before the election because we might be making some pretty difficult decisions after the election but we’ve not discussed how that might work. We will all be making those decisions individually, on the basis of what our electorate wants us to do.

“This whole narrative of being a party or being united in any way, shape or form is false. It’s a narrative that the government is trying to push.”

Dr Ryan also claimed to have no knowledge of the other independents’ campaigns, and said they only speak to give each other emotional support to deal with the “sustained attack” from the ­Coalition.

“I don’t know what the other candidates are doing in their campaigns or how they are running them,” she said. “We don’t speak about that sort of thing, the extent to which we speak is women who are under attack, providing each other with a bit of emotional support at times.”

Dr Ryan was also pushed on her refusal to accept a 30-minute ­Chanel 9 studio debate with Mr Frydenberg, who has accused her of thwarting transparency and called her to reconsider.

She said she was not threatened by a Nine debate, and that she did not see a need to go to a “confected and conflated” presentation with him.

“I’m out and about every day talking to the people of Kooyong. I don’t want to leave my electorate to go to Dockside. I like Kooyong, I’m happy to stay here and talk to the people of Kooyong,” she said.

Dr Ryan also said she would negotiate with the major parties “on the basis of the things which (she) have been elected”, namely climate change targets and a federal integrity watchdog.

Mr Frydenberg on Wednesday accused Dr Ryan of being “loose with the truth” in her defence on the Nine Network debate, since her campaign has held some events outside Kooyong.

“This is not the time to elect fake independents,” Mr Frydenberg said. “This is not the time to have a hung parliament when Australia is facing very significant economic and national security challenges.”

“These fake independents and this fake independent in my electorate of Kooyong is finding it pretty easy to be loose with the truth.

“These people who are campaigning on higher and more transparency are asking their local communities for their vote, yet they’re not telling their local communities how they will vote in the event of a hung parliament.”