Labor considers preferencing independent Warringah candidate Zali Steggall

Bill Shorten will consider preferencing independent Zali Steggall, calling her intervention a symptom of Coalition “chaos”.

Zali Steggall will seek to form a united front with other independents.

Bill Shorten says Labor will consider preferencing independent Warringah candidate Zali Steggall, calling her intervention a symptom of “chaos” and “disunity” of the Morrison government.

The Opposition Leader said Labor would look at the former Olympian’s policies in considering who to preference in the blue-ribbon seat. But he urged voters in the affluent Sydney electorate to back Labor if they want a government that will take action on climate change.

Bill Shorten. Picture: Brendan Radke

“This is an independent, she has just announced she is running yesterday, we will examine her policies. One thing is for sure, Labor is committed to supporting action on climate change,” Mr Shorten said.

“Only Labor can form a government, the independents can’t.”

Mr Shorten said it was “significant” Ms Steggall decided to contest Tony Abbott and called her a “very strong and capable person”.

“Clearly Labor doesn’t agree with every point of view that she holds, but I congratulate her for standing up and I think that will be a pretty exciting contest to watch,” Mr Shorten said.

“But Tony Abbott is a formidable and tough campaigner, I would not write him off either. What I think is important here is that every day, day after day, we see fresh chaos and continuing disunity in the government.

“If it’s not members of the government walking out the door, it’s other Liberal supporters running against the government as independents. This is a government that is lurching from crisis to crisis. And in the meantime, the big issues are not being addressed.”

Steggall’s warning to Abbott

Earlier, Ms Steggall said she will aim to form a “united front” with other independent candidates vying to knock off Mr Abbott from the seat of Warringah.

The 44-year-old said she would open discussions with other candidates in the seat in Sydney’s northern beaches and declared she was the best placed of the independents to beat the former prime minister.

“Clearly it is better to have a unified front and I look forward to talking with some of the other independents that have nominated,” Ms Steggall told ABC radio.

“To discuss policies and really to discuss having a united front moving forward. It is about having that support from the grassroots in the community and I would say I am the best placed to win and to mount that challenge to Tony Abbott.”

Tony Abbott. Picture Kym Smith

Ms Steggall is one of three independents who has put their hand up to contest the blue-ribbon seat, along with former Malcolm Turnbull adviser Alice Thompson and indigenous activist Susan Moylan Coombs.

But Ms Steggall has ruled out striking preference deals.

“I will be asking the people of Warringah to vote one for me and then I trust their choice to allocate their preferences in accordance with their wishes,” she said.

Ms Steggall, who claims she has never voted Labor, said she was not in discussions with GetUp on whether the left-wing activist group would back her campaign.

“I don’t have anything to do with GetUp. Clearly they will do their own campaign in the electorate and they will form their own view as to who they ultimately choose to endorse,” she said.

“At the end of the day GetUp is an organisation that listens to the views of the people within the electorate and they come up with their recommendations.

“If ultimately they decide to endorse me clearly that is not something I have any control over. It means they have listened to my issues and they feel that that resonates with the people of Warringah.”

She also told the ABC the government’s 26 per cent renewable energy target was too low.

“They need to be stronger,” she said.

“At state level and local level, government is taking firmer and stronger action than we are at federal level. It is crazy. There needs to be some leadership.”