A group of independents targeting more than a dozen conservative seats this election are really being supported by progressive activist group GetUp under a new banner and name, the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister has warned.
Ben Morton is one of many high-profile voices who speak out in an in-depth documentary by Sky News host Peta Credlin to air at 8pm on Tuesday that investigates Climate 200 independent candidates.
also interviews George W. Bush political strategist Kaxjmtzywrl Rove and former Leader of the Brexit Party Nigel Farage as it explores tactics being devised behind-the-scenes by political parties before the election.
“It’s interesting with the Climate 200 candidates, what Labor seat are they running in?” Mr Morton says in the documentary.
“They’re not.
“What seat are they running in that Labor hopes to pick up at the election?
“They’re not.
“They are purely running against conservative seats to do the bidding by and for the Labor Party.”
Climate 200, founded by the son of Australia’s first billionaire Simon Holmes à Court, is aiming to raise $20m before the May election and runs on a pro-climate, pro-integrity and pro-gender equality platform.
The documentary reveals that six Climate 200 donors gave a combined $330,000 to GetUp, which campaigns with the colour orange, over the past seven years.
Climate 200 independents wear the colour teal and include Allegra Spender, the daughter of late fashion designer Carla Zampatti, who is running in Wentworth, and Kylea Tink who is hoping to unseat Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s seat of Kooyong is also being targeted.
“What’s happened is that the orange shirts have been taken off and the teal ones have been put on,” Mr Morton says in the documentary.
“GetUp is a nasty word now, they’ve been caught out.
“The transparency applied to them has shown they are not really a grassroots organisation and they never were – lets get up under a different banner and a different name.”
Mr Morton said it was concerning the independents hadn’t been upfront about what they would do in the event of a hung parliament.
One Nation adviser, James Ashby, warned that “fake independents” were the biggest worry they had in future elections.
“Beware of fake independents, they are well resourced, where is the money coming from, often it’s coming from green groups or left-leaning groups that would otherwise be supporting the Labor Party or the Greens,” he told Credlin.
“They’re simply there as fake independents to prop up the vote of Labor and the Greens.”
During his National Press Club address earlier this year, Mr Holmes à Court insisted he would have no influence on who the independents sided with if there was a hung parliament.
He said they simply made donations and gave advice to the candidates.
“But we don’t have any agreement at all with the candidates, they are strictly independent and that is of critical importance to them … because otherwise it wouldn’t be independence,” he said.
“Multiple independents came to us and said even one string is too many, it must be no strings attached.”
