A Teal candidate has been accused of ‘showing her true colours’ after being caught encouraging people to vote Green, as new data exposes how some of the so-called independent MPs overwhelmingly side with the Greens.
Erchana Murray-Bartlett, who made national headlines when she raised $100,000 to help protect wildlife by running the length of in 2023, is standing as an independent in the Queensland seat of McPherson at the federal election.
The seat, which has been held by the Liberal party since 1972, is firmly in the sights of Teal powerbroker and Climate 2000 multi-millionaire Simon Holmes à Court, due to the retirement of incumbent MP Karen Andrews.
He has so far donated up to $50,000 to community groups in McPherson, which ranges from Burleigh Heads to Coolangatta, which are supporting the supposedly economically-conservative-but-pro-environment candidate.
But Ms Murray-Bartlett, 34, let slip her true feelings when asked on a podcast how individuals could ‘contribute to preventing extinction and preserving biodiversity’.
The ultra-runner reeled off a list of ‘simple things’ people could do, such as planting native trees and flowers and keeping their cats in at night to protect wildlife.
‘It’s about speaking up if you see something you don’t agree with,’ Ms Murray-Bartlett told the recent Life on Planet A podcast.
‘It’s about voting Green. It’s about investing your money in greener resources, making sure your superannuation fund isn’t donating to Big Fossil.’
The businesswoman also encouraged people to donate to organisations like the Bob Brown Foundation or the Wilderness Society, which ‘will fund direct action, in the forests, on the streets and in the courts’.
The Bob Brown Foundation (BBF) – founded by former Tasmanian senator Bob Brown, ex-leader of the n Greens – is a radical environmentalist group.
It is infamous for its anti-logging protests, which often involve road blockades and activists chaining themselves to machinery.
On Tuesday, BBF demonstrators scaled the state parliament in Tasmania, posing afterwards with Green MPs.
Senator for Queensland James McGrath said Ms Murray-Bartlett had been exposed as a ‘Green in Teal clothing’.
‘Not only do they vote with the Greens most of the time in Parliament, they’re now running Greens as candidates,’ Senator McGrath added.
‘The last thing the people of the Gold Coast need is an activist MP organising road blockades, chaining themselves to machinery and disrupting daily life like we see from protests organised by the Bob Brown Foundation and other attention-seeking Greens politicians.
‘A vote for the Teals is a vote for Greens policies like decriminalising hard drugs including Ice and heroin, cutting defence spending by 30 per cent, and abolishing the private health insurance rebate.’
Opposition finance spokesman Senator Jane Hume added: ‘Every n voter needs to know that a vote for a Teal candidate is a vote for another three years of Labor.
‘No n can afford another three years of collapsing standards of living, where people are less safe, and our future is more uncertain.
‘The only way you can guarantee better economic management and stability is by voting Liberal: no one else.’
Ms Murray-Bartlett said she was running as an independent because ‘people want their federal representative to represent their community and not someone beholden to party lines, playing political games in Canberra’.
‘Taking in thousands of community consultations, I’m running on a Gold Coast First Policy with a focus on cost of living; housing affordability; honesty and integrity in government; help for small business; habitat and environment; and health,’ she said.
‘Nearly one in three Aussies voted for an Independent or minor party at the last election, so we know there is appetite for change and what people want is someone to vote in parliament based on the values of the people in their community.’
It comes as fresh data has revealed how Teal MP Allegra Spender has overwhelmingly sided with the Greens in parliament.
The MP for the seat of Wentworth in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has sided with the Greens 66 per cent of the time, according to an analysis of her voting record between 2022 and 2025.
When it comes to votes on legislation, Ms Spender has sided with the the Greens 70 per cent of the time and Labor 71 per cent of the time, while she has sided with the Liberal party just 27 per cent of the time.
This is despite Ms Spender claiming on her website that she most commonly sides with the Coalition.
‘Between May 2022 and December 2024, my record shows that when the Coalition calls a vote, I’ve supported it 60 per cent of the time,’ her website states.
‘When Labor calls a vote it’s 50 per cent. And when the Greens do, it’s 45 per cent.’
Daily Mail approached Ms Spender for comment.
This trend for siding with the Greens is reflected in the voting patterns of other prominent Teals.
For example, Kooyong MP Monique Ryan voted 77 per cent of the time with the Greens across all divisions, while Warringah MP Zali Steggall – who ousted former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2019 – voted with the Greens on procedural motions 75 per cent of the time, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Elsewhere, Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel and Mackellar MP Dr Sophie Scamps voted with the Greens on 81 per cent bills that were agreed to.
The Teal movement, which upended the last federal election by drawing votes away from the major parties, receives campaàgn funding from Mr Holmes à Court’s Climate 2000 group.
Teal candidates often stand in formerly safe Liberal seats by presenting themselves as fiscally-conservative with a strong focus on the environment.
The term Teal comes from the fusion of the ‘blue’ of the centre-right Liberal party combined with the ‘green’ of their stance on climate issues.
Given many commentators predict a close election and a likely hung parliament, the Greens and Teal Independents could well decide who forms government.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has previously called on Teal candidates to be ‘transparent with the public’.
‘At the moment, a vote for a green Teal is a vote for Anthony Albanese, and the green Teals will only support Anthony Albanese,’ Mr Dutton said last month.