‘You can ask me 3000 times’: Teal won’t pick sides
A potential key player in who forms NSW’s next government has firmly defended not committing herself to Labor or the coalition ahead of the state election.
Teal independent Karen Freyer wants to end the Liberal Party’s 78-year stranglehold on the Vaucluse electorate in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
But she pushed back during a candidate debate when repeatedly urged to say which major party she would support if neither claimed the required 47 seats on March 25.
Minority government is the most likely proposition, according to polling.
The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Darren Bark addresses the event Photo: Giselle Haber
“I know everyone is desperate to pigeonhole me but I’m not a politician, I’m an independent,” Ms Freyer told a debate moderated by NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Darren Bark on Wednesday night.
“I’m not here to represent a political party and you can ask me the question 3000 times, Darren, I am not aligning myself with a political party.”
The pledge came as candidates running in Vaucluse and Coogee – home t o Sydney’s largest Jewish population – all committed to addressing rising anti-Semitism and the need to address gaps in understanding of the Holocaust.
“People like me, leaders, particularly gentiles (non-Jews) play a fundamental role in calling this out,” Coogee incumbent Marjorie O’Neill.
“It is awful that kids have to go to school with security guards around them.”
Her Liberal opponent Kylie von Muenster said a voter had recently raised that cars entering some Jewish spaces were being searched for potential bombs.
“That is just shocking to me,” she said.
Ms Freyer went where no others would – raising Premier Dominic Perrottet’s wearing of a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday.
She said the premier’s revelation in January, which was accompanied by a grovelling apology, had brought her father, a Polish Jew who escaped World War II, to tears.
But amid a housing crisis and record low rental vacancy, all candidates pushed against “over-deve lopment” in their communities.
Meanwhile, a radio system fault on Sydney’s train network on Wednesday thrust transport issues back on the political agenda.
The fault, which forced all trains to halt for more than an hour, was “extremely rare”, the rail operator said.
But it led Labor to claim it was another example of the chaos and disruption commuters had had to endure under the coalition government.
Meanwhile, Royal Life Saving NSW called for both major parties to increase swimming education.
NSW makes up 33 per cent of the national population but had 45 per cent of the summer’s national drowning toll.
The RLSNSW election pledge sought support for drowning prevention measures for people of all ages, regions and backgrounds.
AAP
More independents and fewer larger party hacks in Australia’s parliaments.
If she defeats the Liberal candidate, she will be a reason for a new Labor-Green Government. In real life her positions are irrelevant – “good” or “bad”. If a voter wants a change of Government, then elect her, if not, you can’t. You must vote, effectively, for Liberal. A “feelgood” member does not mean a “feelgood” Government.