Teals launch Dr Verity Cooper’s campaign in seat of Sturt as finger pointed at Liberals’ colour picks

Is it teal or navy blue coloured? Teal campaigners calls out Liberal branding in knife-edge seat of Sturt. Have your say.

Liberal MP for Sturt James Stevens' homepage colour.

Teal campaigners in the knife-edge seat of Sturt are calling out sitting Liberal member James Stevens saying his online branding colours appear more teal coloured than the party’s traditional navy blue.

Joshua Bradley, campaign manager for new Teal-independent candidate Dr Verity Cooper, said “it’s fascinating” to see the Liberal Party’s “brand redevelopment in terms of colours” for the upcoming federal election.

Mr Stevens’ is already doorknocking in his battle against local GP Dr Cooper, who is backed by Climate 200, in the country’s second most marginal federal seat that he clung to with a 0.5 per cent margin in the 2022 federal election.

The former chief of staff to Liberal Premier Steven Marshall immediately dismissed claims of teal-colouring on his website saying it was navy blue and had been the same mix for the past six years.

There was a 7.4 per cent swing in the last election against Mr Stevens, who is now the shadow assistant minister for government waste reduction in the Peter Dutton-led Liberal Party, and a 5.2 per cent swing to the Greens party.

However, he believed the seat would be dominated by a tussle between the Liberal Party and Labor’s Claire Clutterham, a lawyer and local councillor.

“It’s a Liberal versus Labor campaign with a 0.5 per cent margin so it will be ground zero of whether people want three more years of the Albanese government or if they want a change,” Mr Stevens said.

Teal candidate for Sturt and local GP Dr Verity Cooper launched her campaign this weekend.

Greens candidate Katie McCusker is again fighting for the seat as campaigning heats up with a federal election date expected to be announced within months.

Climate 200 funds are backing Teals independent Dr Cooper, a partner at Fountain Corner Family Practice who specialises in sports medicine, women’s health and paediatrics, and is passionate about tackling climate change, with her official campaign launch this weekend.

“Climate change is indeed one of the platforms but not the only one. South Australians in Sturt are hurting financially and they want better representation at the federal level,” she said.

“I’ve become frustrated with the major party system, and how politics has become increasingly polarised and negative, with a lack of action on issues that were really important to me.”

Liberal candidate for Grey Tom Venning's homepage.

Climate 200 had a powerful impact on the 2022 election campaign backing Teal independents who toppled some of the Liberal Party’s most senior members - including Monique Ryan beating former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the blue ribbon inner city Melbourne seat of Kooyong.

However, its campaign to back former Adelaide Writers’ Week director Jo Dyer in SA was unsuccessful.

A Teal independent candidate is also expected to run in the regional electorate of Grey, which covers 92 per cent of South Australia’s land mass, where the Liberal Party has preselected Tom Venning to replace retiring Rowan Ramsey.

Mr Venning is the nephew of former state Liberal MP Ivan Venning and his online branding is traditional navy blue with distinctive Liberal Party badging.

Originally published as Teals launch Dr Verity Cooper’s campaign in seat of Sturt as finger pointed at Liberals’ colour picks