3 December 2024
Liberal Member for Bradfield Paul Fletcher delivered a sharp critique of the Teal independents in a speech at The Sydney Institute, using the example of North Sydney to argue that their rise threatens the stability of majority government and misleads voters. Fletcher described the Teals as a “giant green left con job” funded by significant financial backing, rather than genuine grassroots movements.
Fletcher emphasised that the Teals targeted Liberal-held seats, pointing to Kylea Tink’s 2022 election victory in North Sydney as an example of preferential voting working against the Coalition. He noted, “In North Sydney, for example, the Liberal candidate Trent Zimmerman received 38.1 per cent of the first preference vote; the Teal candidate received only 25.2 per cent. But the way the Teals won, of course, was by rolling up all of the preferences from non-Liberal candidates.”
He argued that this strategy relied on tactical voting from Greens and Labor supporters. “It is also clear that the Teal first preference vote came from two sources: former Liberal voters; and Labor and Greens voters who were voting tactically. In North Sydney for example the Liberal first preference vote dropped from 52.0 per cent to 38.1 per cent; this block of almost fourteen per cent of votes cast moved from the Liberal candidate to the Teal candidate,” he said.
Fletcher also criticised the significant funding and organisation behind the Teal campaigns. “Just to remind you, in the 2022 election they spent $2.1 million in Kooyong, $2.1 million in Wentworth and across the six seats they won, spent almost ten million dollars. These amounts being spent on campaigns in individual electorates are without precedent in the Australian political system,” he stated.
He accused the Teals of aligning closely with the Greens in parliamentary voting. “That report shows that the great majority of times the Teals are lining up with the radical, extremist Greens Party,” he said, referencing a Parliamentary Library report. Fletcher noted that, “Kate Chaney voted with the Greens 73 per cent of the time; Zoe Daniel voted with the Greens 81 per cent of the time; and the other five all voted with the Greens between 74 per cent and 80 per cent of the time.”
On policy issues, Fletcher highlighted Teal positions on negative gearing, citing Mackellar MP Sophie Scamps’ comments. “Her activism against negative gearing would no doubt come as an unpleasant surprise to the 6,300 taxpayers in Mackellar who lodged a tax return claiming a deduction for losses on a rental property.”
Fletcher concluded by warning voters of the risks posed by the Teals, describing them as a threat to parliamentary stability. “In the specific circumstances of the 2025 election, a vote for an independent is almost certainly a vote for the uncertainty and chaos of a left-leaning minority government—the Albanese Government but considerably worse, if that can be imagined,” he said.
The speech forms part of the Liberal Party’s broader push to reclaim seats on the North Shore ahead of the next federal election.