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Sydney teal MPs Kylea Tink and Zali Steggall are sparring over changes to the borders of their electorates in a battle that could spell the end of one of their political careers.
Seats in northern Sydney do not have enough voters in them due to population changes, meaning one is likely to be abolished as part of an Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) redistribution of NSW electorates.
Sydney MPs Zali Steggall and Kylea Tink are arguing over which of their seats should be abolished.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
NSW needs to lose one of its 47 electorates, with a seat in Sydney’s northern suburbs or inner west the most likely to be scrapped.
Tink, who represents North Sydney, and Steggall, who represents Warringah, have made conflicting suggestions to the commission that would protect the existence and shape of their own seats at the expense of the other’s.
The Liberal Party has also called for the abolition of Warringah, the seat held by Steggall since she ousted former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott in 2019, arguing it should be combined with the neighbouring seat of North Sydney, won by Tink from Liberal Trent Zimmerman in 2022.
In her submission to the commission Steggall notes that “in contrast to the majority of suggestions” Tink was pushing for an eastward movement of North Sydney’s boundaries that would result in “excising the areas of Cremorne and Neutral Bay out of Warringah and moving them into North Sydney”.
“This eastward boundary movement should be rejected as Warringah has firm coastal boundaries to the east and as such, westward movement of boundaries is preferable,” Steggall wrote, effectively arguing for her seat to grow and consume parts of Tink’s existing seat.
In her submission, Tink said the Liberal Party and “Ms Steggall’s two [submissions] would result in a deeply bifurcated electorate with little or no overarching community of interest between coastal precincts and one of Sydney’s identified priority residential growth zones”.
“The Liberals’ and Ms Steggall’s proposals fail each of the redistribution committee’s considerations”.
Tink used her submission to the commission to argue North Sydney’s boundaries should be pushed north into the Liberal-held Bradfield, to take in Chatswood and the Willoughby council area.
ABC election analyst Antony Green, who is studying the NSW redistribution, said it was highly likely Tink’s seat of North Sydney would be either radically redrawn or abolished.
“The problem for Tink is Warringah is going to take some of her electorate, leaving her with an electorate that is smaller. The name of the electorate could disappear and voters could end up in Bradfield or Bennelong,” he said.
The possibility of much of Tink’s electorate ending up in Bradfield, held by Liberal moderate Paul Fletcher, could prove awkward for Tink.
Bradfield teal candidate Nicolette Boele, who gave Fletcher a scare at the last election, has set up a “shadow member for Bradfield” office in the electorate, positioning herself as the candidate for the next election and creating a potential conundrum for community independent funding backer Climate 200 on whether it backs the MP, Tink, or the former candidate.
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