Kylea Tink won’t run in House of Representatives
Politics on the North Shore is heating up, with Bradfield MP Paul Fletcher retiring from politics, paving a smoother path for Independent candidate Nicolette Boele.
In the forthcoming Federal Election, Bradfield will incorporate parts of North Sydney, abolished last year in a redistribution of seats by the Australian Electoral Commission. Electors in suburbs including Chatswood and Willoughby will vote in the Bradfield electorate this year. The election could occur as early as March, though pundits say May is also an option.
Mr Fletcher has held the Liberal stronghold of Bradfield for 15 years. Ms Boele came very close to winning it off him at the 2022 Federal Election, with the seat now held by the Liberals on a margin of 2.5%. “We are not taking anything for granted,” Ms Boele told NL. “We know that we have to work hard if we want to have our community voice heard in Parliament.”
ABC chief election analyst Antony Greene told NL following Mr Fletcher’s resignation that the ‘one advantage Nicolette has is that she’s been campaigning for two and a half years. Whoever the new Liberal candidate would be starts from scratch.’
North Sydney MP Kylea Tink has confirmed she will not run for any other seats in the House of Representatives. “My community is being divided three ways (between Bradfield, Warringah and Bennelong) when it comes to the 2025 election. And so it is only right that I go with my community,” Ms Tink said at a press conference in December. “So I am saying to the people at Bradfield, ‘It’s your time to have your voice heard. And if you want your voice heard, the person you need to vote for is Nicolette.’”
Ms Tink was bullish on the prospects of more community independents being elected in 2025, with 21 already declared across Australia. “People are tired of this adversarial, ego driven politics. They want people to serve them. They want people who are going to listen to them.”
Both Ms Tink and Ms Boele have been supported by environment-focussed crowd-funding organisation Climate 200. Ms Tink said her options now were to run for the Senate, return to corporate work or devise a way for federal Independents to work together ‘without being a party.’
Read more in Real Life on page 11.
