High-profile independent candidate for the seat of Wentworth Allegra Spender has singled out increasing the uptake of electric vehicles as one way to reduce cost of living pressures, while also refusing to say whether she’d side with Labor in the event of a hung parliament.
Ms Spender, the daughter of late fashion designer Carla Zampatti, went head-to-head with Liberal incumbent Dave Sharma at the Sky News people’s forum debate on Thursday.
The affluent electorate of Wentworth is made up of wealthy Sydney suburbs such as Paddington, Bondi and Double Bay and has never been held by Labor.
“In terms of for me, I’m about policy, I’m not about parties, and so who I would vote for if there’s a hung parliament would depend on what policies are on offer and … how they will support the community of Wentworth,” Ms Spender told the audience of undecided local voters at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“I’m someone who’s used to building relationships, regardless of who actually forms government, issue by issue I can vote for this community.”
But Mr Sharma said that voters needed a clearer answer.
“This is one of the most important questions any independent will face in their first term of parliament,” he said.
“In the event of a hung parliament, which party will you support to form government?
“If you’re not being upfront with the electorate now and telling them which party you’re going to support, I think you’re being dishonest with them.
“You’ve got to level with them, you’ve got to say, if I’m elected this is who I’ll support.”
Ms Spender, who is backed by Climate 200, which has been targeting conservative seats, said she had not made up her mind.
“It depends what happens on the negotiating table on the day,” she said.
During the wide-ranging debate which touched on many issues, electric vehicles were highlighted by Ms Spender as one key way to ease cost of living pressures.
“When I look at the cost of living in this country and in this area, petrol, for example, is one of those that a lot of people are facing,” she said.
“But at the moment we’ve been let down by the fact that we don’t have electric vehicles.
“We’re relying on expensive imported foreign oil which is both a security risk to this country but is also a cost-of-living issue.”
With climate change being a major focus among voters for the traditionally Liberal-held electorate, both candidates were later asked whether they had any electric vehicles or solar panels on their houses.
Mr Sharma said he lived in a terrace so didn’t have solar panels.
He said his family-of-five shared the use of a vehicle offered through the government which didn’t give an electric choice.
“I’ve also got a little scooter … if an electric vehicle was ofxjmtzywfered under the Commonwealth vehicle scheme I’d take it,” he said.
Ms Spender said she had tried to get solar panels on her house but due to strata rules she wasn’t able to.
She said she didn’t have a garage or driveway and therefore couldn’t have an electric car – instead opting for both hybrid and diesel vehicles.
“Those are some of the challenges a lot of people face, because we don’t have the charging infrastructure in Wentworth,” she said.
She said 60 per cent of Wentworth residents lived in strata buildings like her.
“There is a real lack of infrastructure if you want to move to electric which we absolutely have to.
“And it is one of the priorities we need to take forward.”
Both were asked what they would do to make that happen.
“More broadly across the country if we just actually had emission standards which would increase the supply of electric vehicle and low-carbon cars to this country we would reduce emissions from cars” Ms Spender said.
“It would also be good for our fuel security because at the moment we import 90 per cent foreign fuel.
“We also need the charging infrastructure … We just actually need to move much faster on this because it’s good for the environment but it’s also good for people’s hip pocket.”
Mr Sharma said that electric vehicle sales had tripled in 2021, compared to a year earlier.
“Wentworth, it might surprise you, has the highest number of Tesla zones compared to any electorate around the country,” he said, before noting it also had the highest number of Range Rovers.
He said the lack of EV charging infrastructure was a problem.
“There’s five public electric vehicle charging stations in Wentworth.
“One of my election commitments is to triple the number of those and make sure some of them are fast charging stations.
“The government has an initiative called the Future Fuels Fund, which is rolling out 400 fast electric vehicle charging stations across the station (as part of the first stage).”
But Ms Spender said that wasn’t good enough.
“We might have tripled, but the UK has 11 per cent, whereas we’re lucky if we have 2 per cent of new cars being bought that are electric vehicles,” she said.
“And Norway has over 70 per cent of new cars that are bought that are electric.
“We don’t have the emissions standards and we don’t have the infrastructure and because of lack of action on this we are literally leaving people in this country exposed to foreign fuel hikes.
“So I know that’s increasing and I support increase but we need to do much more, and much more now.”
