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March 28, 2025
A Greens candidate's spokeswoman has urged voters in a key federal seat to back a Teal independent, as the Liberals ramp up their campaign accusing the climate-conscious independents of being the Greens in disguise.
At a community event this week, Heather Armstrong who was listed as "Greens spokesman for Harjit Singh" the party's candidate for the seat of Bradfield on Sydney's north shore ended her closing remarks urging people to give their voting preferences to Mr Singh's Teal rival for the seat, Nicolette Boele.
Bradfield is one of the last remaining Liberal seats in the area that has not yet been taken by the Climate 200backed Teal movement.
Ms Boele is the Teal candidate who is running again after coming within just a few thousand votes of winning the seat at the 2022 election.
Ms Boele's chances this time around are bolstered by sitting Liberal MP Paul Fletcher's decision to retire from politics.
The Daily Telegraph spoke to multiple attendees at the event to verify Ms Armstrong's comments.
One attendee and lifelong Bradfield resident said: "Each of the candidates were given the opportunity to make a closing statement. It was pretty brief and the last to speak was the representative for the Greens, which was Heather Armstrong.
"She made a few points and ended by saying 'I recommend that you give your preference to Nicolette' and she said she was a lovely lady."
A second attendee said Ms Armstrong said voters should preference Ms Boele before briefly mentioning the Labor candidate for the seat.
The Liberal Party seized on the comments as more evidence Teal independents were aligned with the Greens.
The Coalition previously launched a website detailing the voting records of Teal MPs and how often they had voted with the Greens. It said Teal MPs had voted in alignment with the Greens 77 per cent of the time in their first term.
Liberal Senator James Paterson said a vote for the Teals was as good as a vote for the Greens.
"It's no surprise that the Greens are encouraging voters to back the Teals," he said.
"The so-called independents claim to represent the communities but their voting record tells a different story.
"They are more aligned with the extreme Greens than with the mainstream values of their electorates."
A Greens spokesperson said the party was intent on denying the Coalition a seat, adding: "Lower House campaigns will make their own decisions on recommending preferences based on our values and who the other local candidates are, but we will never make a preference deal that will help get Peter Dutton or the Liberals elected to government."