INDEPENDENT candidate for Farrer Michelle Milthorpe has hit back at an assertion by a Liberal Party Senator that she is a “Climate 200 Teal” that is “trying to trick” voters.
Paying a visit to the western reaches of the electorate this week, Ms Milthorpe said she wouldn’t be contesting the seat if she felt she had good representation at the moment from the sitting member, Sussan Ley.
“At the end of the day, there’s no teal party,” Ms Milthorpe said.
“The teal party is the construct of the major parties to try and distract that people running as independent are needed, because the major parties are not doing their job properly.”
A day prior to Ms Milthorpe’s meet up in Wentworth, Liberal Senator for New South Wales Holly Hughes sent a four line statement to newspapers across the Farrer electorate.
“This Climate 200 Teal has been a candidate for the seat of Farrer for six months and yet she still continues to mislead communities across the seat as to how she might vote in a hung parliament after the next election,” she said.
“The reality is this: every published poll, every internal poll points to an extremely close election in which the Prime Minister could be determined by the cross-bench, where no party has a majority.
“This Climate 200 Teal continues to refuse to answer a very straight questions: if you are elected, will you support Anthony Albanese or not? The only conclusion Farrer can draw from this ongoing equivocation is that the Climate 200 Teal is trying to trick them.
“The equation is very simply: the only candidate who has confirmed they will not support Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister is your Federal MP Sussan Ley. A vote for the Climate 200 Teal clearly risks keeping Anthony Albanese in power.”
Ms Milthorpe said the statement was laughable, and demonstrated a misunderstanding of the robust nature of independent politics.
“Independents don’t have to choose somebody or a party … you choose policy that is going to benefit your community and benefit the people of Farrer,” she said.
“I will vote for policy that will help the people of Farrer and regional Australia to get things done.
“This is just a distraction and this is the only thing they can say to scare people from moving away from major parties.”
She acknowledged that Simon Holmes a Court-founded Climate 200 made a donation to assist with campaign advertising, under an assurance she act with integrity and have intent to sustainability for everyone.
“I certainly won’t be taking money from mining companies and gambling companies and unions who we’ve seen over time have been able to influence some of the decisions our major parties have made,” she said.
“The majority of my donors come from Farrer.”
During her visit to Balranald, Wentworth and Euston, Ms Milthorpe said several issues were very apparent, including mobile phone connectivity, lack of GP and allied health services, ageing infrastructure and pressure on business operators.
She said after 23 years of the incumbent, now was the time for a new approach to address these issues.
“I worry about a bit of apathy about what we deserve and what we get,” Ms Milthorpe said.
“I know it takes three levels of government to make sure that regional communities are sustainable
“I don’t like the idea of blame shifting from one to the other, it’s more about working together to ensure that communities get what they need.”
