Monique Ryan hits back after Frydenberg claims she’s a ‘fake’ independent
An independent candidate challenging Josh Frydenberg in the seat of Kooyong has hit back to the Treasurer’s claim she’s a “fake” independent.
Mr Frydenberg took aim at Monique Ryan on 3AW Afternoons on Thursday.
He claimed she hasn’t “come clean” with voters about her political affiliations.
Dr Ryan — who has secured more than $1 million in funding from 1800 donors including Climate 200 — told Elise Elliott she considers herself “a political cleanskin”.
“I’ve never been part of the political process to any significant extent,” she said.
While Dr Ryan was a member of the Labor Party for three years, she says she’s never attempted to conceal that affiliation.
“By no means am I a fake independent,” she said. “I think that’s a narrative that the Liberal Party is sticking to because they don’t want to talk to people like me about the facts, and the issues that matter to our electorates.”
“I did join the Labor Party in 2007 because I believed that the Kevin Rudd was going to take action on climate change. I never attended a meeting of the Labor Party and I let that membership lapse in 2010 because I was hugely disappointed by the failure of the government at that time to take any effective action on climate change.”
Dr Ryan slammed Josh Frydenberg for “sloganeering and name-calling”, which she says is “not helpful”.
“I’ve been out on the streets of Kooyong for several months now hearing from people that they’re actually kind of sick of it really,” she said.
Press PLAY below to hear Monique Ryan’s response to Josh Frydenberg’s claim she’s a “fake independent”
Image: Monique Ryan