A community independent candidate running on the Gold Coast believes the cost-of-living crisis and exposure to natural disasters could see the teal movement finally cut through the Liberal National Party’s thin blue line this federal election.
Marathon runner and nutritionist Erchana Murray-Bartlett is running for McPherson, which stretches from Burleigh to Coolangatta, where five-time incumbent Liberal MP Karen Andrews is retiring.
“People live here because they’re not engaged in politics and they want to, you know, surf and live this beautiful lifestyle, but at the end of the day, politics will affect all of us, particularly in such a vulnerable city to climate events,” Murray-Bartlett told 9news.com.au.
“When we can’t afford to live here and our grocery prices are soaring, there is a reason that this is happening.
“This is a cost-of-living election… we need urgent cost-of-living relief.”
Every seat on the Gold Coast is a safe LNP seat. McPherson has been held by the Liberal Party since 1972.
At the 2022 election, McPherson saw a 2.9 per cent swing to Labor, but Andrews comfortably retained the seat on a 9.3 per cent margin.
But Murray-Bartlett describes it as the “next frontier” for the teals, who have previously enjoyed success in inner-city seats in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
“The Gold Coast has been taken for granted for so long, you know, we’ve been a safe LNP seat for many, many years.”
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“I thought, you know what, just by being in the race and giving a strong, independent option, it’s gonna do wonders for the community.
“Maybe we’ve seen the influence of the independents from the south filter through and the incredible good that they’ve managed to do and it’s filtered up north, I’m not sure but I do know it’s very much a movement up here in Queensland now.”
Backed by political crowdfunding group Climate 200, “teal” or community independent candidates won a host of once-safe Liberal seats at the last federal election, helping to create the largest crossbench in Australian history.
Murray-Bartlett said she was happy to be called a teal – but doesn’t use the label herself.
“Even though yes, there might be some areas that we are values-aligned, ultimately, at the end of the day, I’m only accountable to my electorate, and that’s how I’ll vote.”
Climate 200 has backed Murray-Bartlett, as well as several other independent candidates running for Queensland seats, including Nicole Arrowsmith in the neighbouring electorate of Moncrieff, Ellie Smith in Peter Dutton’s seat of Dickson, Suzie Holt in Groom on the Darling Downs, as well as Francis Wiig in Fairfax and Keryn Jones in Fisher, both on the Sunshine Coast.
Murray-Barlett will literally run the entire length of her electorate – all 120 kilometres of it – non-stop tomorrow to raise funds for her campaign.
