Liberal MP Dave Sharma has told voters they risk losing a moderate voice inside the party if he is ousted from the Sydney seat of Wentworth, one of several electorates targeted by prominent independents.
Mr Sharma is facing a sizeable threat from Allegra Spender, who used the same debate to promise action on climate change, a federal anti-corruption commission and a reshaping of the economy.
“If Wentworth is not Liberal, you’ll almost certainly get a Labor-Greens government, supported by the independents,” Mr Sharma told a community forum on Sunday night.
“If (moderates are) not in the party room, you’re not going to get more moderation, you’re going to get a party that’s more out to the fringes.”
In the lead-up to the May 21 election, the coalition has been ramping up its critique of so-called teal independents, who threaten to snatch disaffected Liberal voters.
Asked by the audience about his preference card listing the United Australia Party at number two, Mr Sharma said he’d have preferred his how-to-vote cards didn’t list preferences.
“Number the boxes however you like,” Mr Sharma said.
Ms Spender said she was willing to work with both sides of politics as long as she could maintain her independence.
“I think that’s where the opportunity is, being a moderate, in the middle,” she said.
Ms Spender said political fringe minorities inside the Liberal party had dictated the government’s policy.
The debate was held at Moriah War Memorial College, a Queens Park Jewish school in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and hosted by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
Kingsford Smith MP, Labor’s Matt Thistlethwaite, was also present at the forum. Both Wentworth and Kingsford Smith have a high proportion of Jewish voters.
Mr Thistlethwaite downplayed the chances of a hung parliament and said Mr Sharma’s suggestions of a Labor-Greens coalition was fanciful, adding it was unlikely the minor party would secure more seats in Canberra.
Climate change was a major theme at the forum, which is one of the key platforms for the independents.
Mr Sharma said Australia was doing well to curb emissions. He said he hoped the climate wars which had gripped the coalition were over while accepting the party had struggled to reach consensus.
The coalition is aiming to cut emissions by 26 to 28 per cent by 2050. Labor is promising a 43 per cent cut, and Ms Spender wants at least a 50 per cent cut within the decade.
