Independents ‘a front for Labor and Greens’, says Josh Frydenberg

Josh Frydenberg has slammed campaigns by high-profile independent candidates targeting Liberal MPs as a front for Labor and the Greens.

Josh Frydenberg chats with customers at a cafe in his Melbourne electorate of Kooyong on Thursday. Picture: Ian Currie

Josh Frydenberg has slammed campaigns by high-profile independent candidates targeting Liberal MPs as a front for Labor and the Greens which, if elected, would likely lead to a hung parliament and political chaos.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian, the Treasurer ­defended the Coalition’s policies on climate change and an integrity commission – key issues raised by independents – and said they could not deliver policy outcomes because they can never form ­government.

“The independents are running campaigns right across the country but really they are a front for the Labor Party and the Greens,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“The campaign against me had a lot more in common with the Greens than it did with the Liberal Party.

“They run on this notional platform of being a disaffected Liberal – that’s BS. What they want to do is drag down the Liberal Party. What they want to do is ultimately wreak havoc in our ­political system. A hung parliament would be a terrible outcome for Australians.”

Monique Ryan, a neurologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, said on Thursday she would stand as an independent candidate in the Treasurer’s Melbourne seat of Kooyong.

“It’s an enormous privilege to serve the people of Kooyong and one I have never taken for ­granted,” Mr Frydenberg said in response to Professor Ryan’s can­did­ature. “I am incredibly proud of our vibrant local community – a community I grew up in, I went to school in and with my wife Amie am raising our children in.”

Simon Holmes a Court, via his Climate 200 organisation, is bankrolling a slew of independent candidates in challenges to Liberal MPs in multiple seats, including Wentworth, North Sydney and Mackellar in NSW and Goldstein and Flinders in Victoria.

In 2019, Mr Frydenberg was challenged by Greens candidate Julian Burnside, independent Oliver Yates and Jana Stewart from Labor. However, Mr Frydenberg easily retained Kooyong with a primary vote of 49.41 per cent.

“I faced a very well-funded, well organised campaign from the Greens, the independents and the Labor Party,” he said. “It was hand-to-hand combat. I’m very grateful to the people of Kooyong that they re-elected me as they did in 2016, 2013 and for the first time in 2010.”

Mr Frydenberg rejected criticisms by independents of the ­Coalition’s record on climate change and its failure to establish a national integrity commission.

“The Coalition has made a major step forward in adopting a net-zero by 2050 target – and before we landed that position, I was quite outspoken about the need to adopt the target as there would be an economic cost of not doing so, particularly with regard to limiting access to global debt and equity markets,” he said. “With respect to the integrity commission, we have got draft legislation and a clear proposal but the Labor Party dismisses it. If they were to agree with it, then it would be a reality.

“Our model has a law enforcement division, it’s got independent oversight, it’s got the powers of a royal commission and we’ve assigned more than $100m for its establishment.”

More broadly on policy, Mr Frydenberg said the key issue for voters at the election was who could be trusted to steer the economy through challenging times.

“A strong economy is central to everything,” he said.