Wentworth: Liberal Dave Sharma takes on Kerryn Phelps

Wentworth independent Kerryn Phelps has sparred with Liberal candidate Dave Sharma for the first time.

Liberal candidate Dave Sharma and independent Kerryn Phelps fail to see eye-to-eye during a debate in Sydney’s Bondi yesterday. Picture: Hollie Adams.

Wentworth independent Kerryn Phelps has sparred with Liberal candidate Dave Sharma for the first time in a head-to-head debate, accusing his party of being “dominated by climate change sceptics” and having no policy on the issue.

Dr Phelps, rated a strong chance of causing an upset in this Saturday’s by-election for Malcolm Turnbull’s former safe seat in Sydney’s east, made her pitch to Wentworth voters yesterday as a candidate who could fight in parliament on climate change “unimpeded by the policy you don’t have”.

The Sydney GP and former president of the Australian Medical Association praised Mr Sharma for his willingness to “at least cross the floor” against fellow Liberals who “did not believe climate change was real”. But she said she was an independent who could create “a strong stabilising influence” by keeping the government to account, and not acting as a rubber stamp.

The exchange occurred during a forum for the top five Wentworth candidates at Bondi Surf Life Saving Club.

Dr Phelps interjected after Mr Sharma, a former Australian ambassador to Israel running in the electorate with Sydney’s largest Jewish population, cited his climate-change credentials, saying he accepted the science and wanted Australia to play its part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

He said he supported Australia remaining a signatory of the Paris Agreement on climate change, but also supported including keeping power prices low and ensuring ­reliability. “Unless we have all those three elements we are not going to have public consensus we need to move to a lower emissions pathway,” he said.

Mr Sharma said coal would ­remain part of the energy mix ­because it provided 60 per cent of base-level power along the eastern seaboard — but he believed a transition to renewables would be ­increasingly possible as storage technology improved and the Snowy 2.0 scheme came on line.

Mr Turnbull, whose resignation prompted the by-election, won Wentworth in 2016 with a 62 per cent primary vote, but the Liberal campaign anticipates a swing against the party without the former prime minister’s personal loyalty vote. With Labor scoring 17.7 per cent last time, the party’s candidate, Tim Murray, is campaigning hard but Dr Phelps could benefit from local disenchantment over Mr Turnbull’s dumping.

Mr Sharma said he, too, was “appalled at the treatment meted out” to Mr Turnbull by his party, but he said he was focused on the future. Voters faced a choice about whether the government continued with a one-seat major­ity or faced a hung parliament. “I believe a Liberal government would be the best government to keep the economy strong, keep Australians safe and keep communities ­united,” he said.

Labor’s Mr Murray urged voters to back him, saying he would be a voice inside Labor to stop the proposed Adani coalmine. He promised to promote more education funding and back an integrity commission for MPs.

Amid audience laughter, the debate moderator asked Mr Murray whether Bill Shorten would be seen in Wentworth before Saturday after not setting foot in the electorate during the campaign.

Mr Murray said he was satisfied with Labor support after six federal and state frontbenchers made campaign visits. But he said Labor had its eye on the “main prize”. “This is a sideshow, to be honest … the main thing is that we change our government,” he said.