Federal Election 2025: Warringah candidates and what they stand for
With the federal election set for May 3 we profile the candidates vying for Warringah, what they stand for and why they are running.
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The federal election is set for May 3 as candidates scramble to get their name out there to voters, what they’re about and what they represent.
We’ve compiled some vital information you need to know about those running in Warringah before heading to the ballot to vote.
Zali Steggall, Independent MP
Steggall is a former professional sportsperson who represented Australia at four Winter Olympic Games. She won Australia’s first ever individual medal at the 1998 Games and the country’s first and only World Championship alpine skiing gold medal in 1999.
She went on to practise as a barrister in areas of commercial, family and sports law for
more than a decade. Combining her legal and sporting experience and passion for integrity, she attended the 2018 Olympics in 2018 in PyeongChang as a member of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Determined to help shift Australian politics to being more community representative and tackle big issues such as climate risks, Steggall contested, and won Warringah as an independent in 2019, beating former prime minister Tony Abbott.
In 2022, she retained the seat, with an increased margin.
What inspired you to run for the seat?
I felt our community’s views and values were not being prioritised and represented in parliament, especially on key issues like integrity, equality and building a strong resilient
Australia by addressing climate risks.
As a local mum, a former Olympian and barrister, I was, and continue to be, passionate and
committed to ensuring everyone, regardless of age, gender, race or location, has an equal
opportunity to thrive and feel safe.
To do this, we must deliver smart, practical solutions to key challenges faced by our community — from cost of living and housing pressures to climate risks and small business support.
With climate risks and insurance costs escalating, I’m committed to accountability and
integrity and will always make sure Warringah’s views and values are heard loud and clear in
Canberra.
What do you see as the biggest issues for this election and how do they apply to the region?
As an independent MP, I’m focused on hearing from and serving our community on issues
from NDIS, Centrelink to immigration and aged care by hosting forums and meeting with the
community.
Now more than ever, it is essential that we have housing opportunities and transport solutions that meet our needs, support for small businesses and households feeling the pressure of increasing costs and strong policies to transition to a low cost, low emissions, innovation driven economy.
We need to incentivise electrification to reduce power bills, simplify taxes for small businesses, and provide more accessible and efficient housing options so people can afford
to live and work in the area they love.
Warringah is among the top two NSW electorates expected to be hardest hit by worsening
climate risks and escalating insurance costs.
We must strive for a minimum 75 per cent emissions reduction target by 2035 and implement my comprehensive Climate Resilience plan to protect our community and keep insurance affordable.
For this, we need a legislated National Adaptation Framework, a $10bn Climate Resilience Fund to deliver resilient infrastructure and an expanded Resilient Building Council.
What is your top three wishlist for the electorate?
From helping secure more than $300m in local grants, responding to more than 41,000
inquiries, stopping oil and gas exploration off our coast and improving legislation with over
190 legislative amendments, including on scams, job security and affordable education, I’m
committed to achieving results for our community.
I want everyone in our diverse community to feel secure in every sense – protected from
climate risks, hate speech and racism, safer at work, at home and online, from gambling
advertising to scams.
Government and policies must support households and small businesses to thrive, by bringing down energy bills through household electrification, securing cheaper childcare and healthcare, and making it easier for small businesses to grow with fair tax and skilled worker policies.
Ultimately, we need smart solutions for a re-energised independent economy focused on
investment and net zero opportunity and a robust democracy, strengthened by greater
integrity and transparency in government spending and policies, truth in political advertising,
and a strong National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Celine Varghese-Fell, Labor
Varghese-Fell, a qualified primary school teacher and childcare educator, has lived on the northern beaches for more than 20 years with her husband David.
She is the centre director of an OOSH (Out of School Hours) service in Manly and a board member for the NSW OOSH peak body.
Varghese-Fell is involved in voluntary organisations including the local branch of Amnesty International and helped organise market stalls and events in support of human rights.
What inspired you to run for the seat?
I wanted to see a better, fairer society and to ensure that Labor has a presence in our electorate. I have always been involved in grassroots politics at the community level.
What do you see as the biggest issues for this election and how do they apply to the region?
Cost of living, Medicare funding, education investment for the future generations – in particular for all public schools to be fully funded by government – and housing affordability, in particular for essential workers in our electorate are the big issues.
The cost of living matters are the heart and soul of this election fight.
We, in government, will ensure that daily food and other essential items are not overpriced and are kept affordable for all Australians, in particular those who may be struggling with financial hardship.
The continued investment in Medicare bulk billing and the Cheaper Medicines program will assist with cost of living issues as well.
Funding will be put in place for all schools in the electorate to produce highly engaged students with an interest in learning and development for the future.
For the childcare and OOSH sectors, we will ensure these services are appropriately funded to provide all parents easy access to care when they require it and to upgrade the professionals in this field.
On housing affordability, we will be looking to ensure that the new developments in the area are affordable for essential workers and that we work to reduce traffic congestion in these built up areas as well.
What is your top three wishlist for the electorate?
Reducing costs in the family budget.
Ensuring bulk billing is back and keep the Urgent Medicare Clinics, like the one in Dee Why, are well funded.
Ongoing investment in our public schools
Jaimee Rogers, Liberal
Rogers has had a successful media career, underpinned by her passion for sport and affinity with people.
She has worked across television and radio, providing commentary on a range of sports including racing, soccer, NRL, WNRL and lawn bowls Rogers holds a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Management as well as a Master’s in Marketing.
An accomplished swimmer, Rogers competed in the 2000 Olympic swimming trials. In 2022, she completed a 35km swim across the English Channel, raising funds for Gotcha4Life, a mental health charity for which she is an ambassador.
Rogers lives in Warringah with her husband David and two young boys.
What inspired you to run for the seat?
I love our community in Warringah and feel privileged to be raising my two boys locally.
I’ve come from a media background where I would listen and report on stories of what people were going through.
The story would go to air and that’s where it would end, but in politics, I can go and do something about what I’ve heard.
I want to become your MP, to be a strong voice for Warringah in Canberra and make our electorate an even better place to live.
So many local people have been telling me how they are struggling with the cost of living. Skyrocketing prices for energy, daycare, food and housing are really hurting people in our community.
The only way we are going to put Australia back on track is by electing a Liberal Government.
What do you see as the biggest issues for this election and how do they apply to the region?
Cost of living and housing are two big concerns for voters that I speak to in the electorate.
Labor has severely damaged our economy. Australia has witnessed the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world.
It’s critical we get inflation under control as part of improving living standards.
The Liberal team’s economic plan will deliver low inflation by cutting wasteful spending, reducing red tape and protecting consumers and small businesses from corporations or union bosses who misuse their power.
We’ll also slash energy costs by using a mix of renewables, gas, and zero-emissions nuclear energy as our power sources.
Housing will become more affordable with our plan to restrict foreign investors and cap the foreign student intake.
I want Warringah residents to know how important their vote is. The Teals might operate a slick marketing campaign, but they can’t deliver anything.
Voting for the Teals would deliver a minority Labor government, propped up by the Greens. It’s a nightmare scenario that would lead to a further decline in living standards.
What is your top three wishlist for the electorate?
I’ve already secured a commitment from a Dutton Liberal Government to earmark $100,000 for recreational facilities at Forsyth Park, at Neutral Bay, and Waverton Park.
Next on the agenda is bringing back the conversation around the Beaches Link Tunnel. It’s vital we ease congestion on Military Rd and The Spit Bridge.
The Liberal team has a plan to boost small business by cutting red tape, reducing compliance, and encouraging entrepreneurship. We’ll offer tax relief for business-related meal expenses, giving a much-needed shot in the arm for struggling cafes, restaurants, and pubs. We’ll also lift the instant tax write off to $30,000.
I want to ensure there are adequate treatment options for people struggling with their mental health. This is especially important for younger Warringah residents. A Liberal Government will get the Better Access initiative back on track where we will deliver 20 subsidised Medicare mental health sessions, reversing Labor’s cuts.
Bonnie Harvey, The Greens
Harvey was born in Lismore but grew up on the northern beaches.
In her senior year of high school, she used her role as school leader to create Feeling Fresh, a preventive mental health program.
She went on to operate a small tutoring business to support herself while studying politics/international relations and socio-legal studies at Sydney University.
Harvey received the Charles Perkins Summer Scholarship to undertake research into Indigenous perspectives on the Voice to parliament Referendum.
In her spare time, she enjoys surfing, creating digital content and making music with friends.
What inspired you to run for the seat?
We are all feeling the stresses of modern life: more frequent natural disasters, more political
division and the rising cost of living. The major parties treat these issues as separate crises and continually fail to address the elephant in the room: rampant inequality and greed.
I know first-hand how this impacts young people. We feel stressed and disheartened at the state of the world and wonder if we’ll ever even be able to afford a home.
That is why I am running in this election, to offer Warringah a candidate who will treat the disease in our democracy, rather than toying with isolated symptoms.
I am an artist, student, small business owner and the youngest woman to ever be elected to the Northern Beaches Council. Because I am passionate about social change and have a knack for engaging the next generation, I am uniquely positioned to represent Warringah.
A vote for the Greens is a vote for energetic leadership in areas that matter: affordable housing affordability, quality social services and making billionaires pay their
fair share.
What do you see as the biggest issues for this election and how do they apply to the region?
This is a cost of living election.
While Warringah is a relatively wealthy electorate there is still a clear divide between the haves and have-nots, and people are struggling.
This almost always boils down to home ownership.
Renters and those struggling with mortgage repayments will welcome The Greens’ policy to stop the $176bn in tax handouts for wealthy property investors and build high-quality public affordable housing.
We will also continue to fight for caps on rent increases and the extreme interest rates that the big banks charge on mortgages. These policies would provide meaningful cost-of-living relief for the majority of residents in Warringah.
Our residents are also deeply connected to the land and worried about climate breakdown. The
Greens are committed to making mining corporations and billionaires pay their fair share to fund a transition to safe, publicly-owned renewable energy in which workers are appropriately retrained and no one gets left behind.
That way, here in Warringah, we can enjoy cheaper energy, a cleaner climate and not worry about the future of our precious wildlife.
What is your top three wishlist for the electorate?
The top three things I’d like to see happen in Warringah are a cap on rental price increases,
ending supermarket price gouging and the subsidisation of solar and batteries for homes and
businesses.
Most of my friends have been forced to move away from the beaches because they
cannot afford the rent. Likewise, many of our essential workers (such as nurses who staff our
hospitals) live on the Central Coast.
By placing a cap on rental prices, young people, essential workers and expanding families will be able to afford to live in our community.
I would also love to see further cost-of-living relief provided by making supermarket price gouging illegal. This would make Coles and Woolies reduce grocery prices and stop unfairly squeezing our hardworking farmers.
This sort of reform excites me because not only would it put money back in our residents’ pockets, but it would show that the government can break up major corporations’ monopolies. Finally, by subsidising solar and batteries for businesses and homes, the people of Warringah would experience first-hand the beauty of renewable energy and feel the financial independence that moving away from reliance on fossil fuels can bring.
David Spratt, Independent
Spratt is an engineer working in the power, energy and mechanical industries who has owned an engineering consultancy practice for 40 years who describes himself as an advocate for an energy policy that prioritises reliability, affordability and clean emissions that would drive a resurgence of manufacturing and jobs creation.
What inspired you to run for the seat?
I was inspired by the opportunity to “add value” to the body politic through a lived experience, in particular in the engineering, energy and power space.
With the overseas development in Micro Modular and Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, running as a candidate in a federal seat enables me to introduce these new nuclear technologies into the public square so a public conversation can be initiated as to a domestic nuclear energy industry for Australia.
What do you see as the biggest issues for this election and how do they apply to the region?
The biggest issues are cost of living, brought about by the upward trending cost of
energy’ and the ever-increasing barriers to first home affordability.
Cost of living is impacting negatively on small businesses (closures) and households in the Warringah electorate.
Barriers to first home affordability is likewise, impacting negatively on our younger generations, who have all but given up on ever owning their own residence.
What is your top three wishlist for the electorate?
Cost of energy trending downwards to relieve the cost of living on small businesses and households.
Introduction of an underground mass transit system (Metro), offering benefits of fast travel to and from the CBD and mitigation of vehicular pollution and traffic congestion across The Spit Bridge and along Military Rd.
Unoccupied foreign owned residences to be released into the rental market.
Sean McLeod, Libertarian
McLeod has lived on the northern beaches for most of his life and works as a registered nurse in Manly.
Before then, he spent 12 years working backstage at the Sydney Opera House.
What inspired you to run for the seat?
I decided to run in federal politics with the Libertarian Party because the Libertarian message resonates with me the strongest and I believe their goals are akin to the Australia I grew up in.
We cannot have another Labor nor Liberal government without someone making sure they are adhering to the original tenets that they were supposed to uphold.
What do you see as the biggest issues for this election and how do they apply to the region?
I will champion individual freedom, limited government and free-market principles that will drive us into prosperity.
Voters can expect unwavering commitment to personal responsibility by reducing bureaucratic overreach and protecting civil liberties.
Australia was a place where people were trusted to live their lives without heavy-handed interference, where fairness and freedom weren’t just buzzwords.
I look at the Labor and Liberal governments we’ve had, and I can’t shake the feeling that they’ve drifted far from the principles they were meant to stand for.
We can’t keep letting that slide. Someone’s got to step up and hold them accountable, to remind them what they’re supposed to be about.
The Libertarian Party wants to lower taxes, deregulate bureaucratic red tape, and have a noninterventionist foreign policy, which includes foreign wars not started by us.
We advocate for privacy rights, free speech, and voluntary co-operation. By prioritising economic freedom and personal choice we reduce centralised control.
Anthony Rose, Trumpet of Patriots
Rose is a lifelong North Manly resident with more than three decades as a glazier and small business owner.
What inspired you to run for the seat?
Warringah, encompassing areas such as Manly, Mosman and North Sydney, is renowned for its affluence, natural beauty and highly educated population.
However, the electorate faces pressing challenges including housing affordability, mental health concerns and infrastructure demands.
Recent analyses highlight Warringah as one of the most unaffordable electorates for renters, with a significant shortage of affordable housing options for low-income earners.
I am committed to addressing the issues of my electorate head-on.
Australia needs common sense solutions to bring down the cost of living.
We need real people – leaders who will stand up for what’s right – not career politicians who push radical agendas.
Trumpet of Patriots stands for common sense.
I’m determined to give voters a real alternative as a representative of the electorate who understands the unique character of the community, and possesses the dedication and experience to advocate effectively for change.
Information on One Nation candidate Gavin Wright is not yet available.
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Originally published as Federal Election 2025: Warringah candidates and what they stand for
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