Teal Spender ‘ready to work with Dutton’s Coalition’

Teal independent MP Allegra Spender has declared she has shared ‘sympathy’ with Peter Dutton’s Coalition and is open to putting them into power in a hung parliament.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton during a visit to Darwin on Sunday. Picture: Fia Walsh.

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Teal independent MP Allegra Spender has declared she has shared “sympathy” with Peter Dutton’s Coalition and is open to putting them into power in a hung parliament, as the nation faces an election with an enlarged crossbench choosing the next prime minister.

The Opposition Leader on Sunday made it clear he will push through with his attempts to unseat the teals who defeated some of the Liberal Party’s biggest names in 2022, saying a vote for the community independents was a vote for Anthony Albanese and Labor.

But Ms Spender – whose affluent Sydney seat of Wentworth was dominated by the Liberal Party for most of the past 80 years – said there were parallels between her world view and the Opposition’s.

Independent MP Allegra Spender. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

“I am very open to working with a Coalition government and I’m open to working with the Labor government, but that depends on what they are actually going to put on the table,” Ms Spender told the ABC.

“I believe that this is where my view on the world and the Coalition’s view on the world, there are a lot of parallels,” she said.

“There’s a lot of sympathy.”

The comments came after The Australian revealed on Saturday that Climate 200 is expected to provide funding support for more than 30 independents, almost ­exclusively in current and former Liberal and Nationals seats.

In addition to retaining gains won at the last election, the Simon Holmes a Court-backed outfit will pour resources into previously safe Coalition-held seats including Wannon, Bradfield, Cowper and Calare.

Ms Spender was among the crossbenchers who were entertained by the Prime Minister at The Lodge in Canberra last week.

Mr Albanese is expected to call an election soon.

Speaking in the regional city of Palmerston in the outskirts of Darwin, Mr Dutton said the teals should reveal now who they would back in a hung parliament.

“The policies (of the major parties) are known and if transparency is important, as the teals say it is, then they should be transparent with the public,” he declared on Sunday.

Alongside Ms Spender, Mr Dutton singled out fellow Climate 200-backed independents Kate Chaney, Zali Steggall and Monique Ryan.

“You should know that in a hung parliament if they are going to support Labor or Liberal,” he said. “Otherwise, why would you vote for them?”

Mr Dutton also claimed the independents would only support Labor, claiming that they would not deliver a change of government.

“If you want a majority Coalition government so that we can get our country back on track and clean Labor’s mess up and help with the cost of living crisis, then vote for your Liberal or National Party candidates,” he said.