Perth Voice Interactive

Lisa Thornton is standing as an independent for the seat of Churchlands.

STIRLING councillor Lisa Thornton will stand as an independent to take on Liberal candidate for Churchlands Basil Zempilas. 

Cr Thornton’s campaign materials went live last week bearing the colouring of the teal independents. 

The teals are a loose grouping of political candidates who’ve been making inroads in state and federal politics in the past couple of years, and are a blend of moderate centrists with a common interest in taking action on climate change. 

They’ve proven a threat to Liberal incumbents and have took a few seats from Liberals in blue-leaning electorates in the 2022 federal election.

Mr Zempilas, currently Perth city council’s lord mayor, is hoping to take the Churchlands seat from Labor incumbent Christine Tonkin.

According to The Post newspaper, some teal types met early in this year to form a community group called Churchlands Independent with an aim to find a sympathetic candidate to take the seat. 

A teal presence could split the vote and cause trouble for the Liberals, depending on how voters allocate their preferences. 

Churchlands sits within the federal seat of Curtin, which was a safe Liberal seat until teal-friendly independent Kate Chaney won the 2022 election. 

Cr Thornton’s time in local government has had an influence on her plans at the state level: One of her policy priorities is to advocate for a third-party right of appeal in planning issues, as currently only the decision-maker or applicants can appeal development decisions. 

Donations

She also wants a ban on political donations from property developers, more tree protection, and more social housing.

Churchlands has proved to be a pretty amenable seat to independents in the past.

The seat was created in 1996, and was held by conservative-leaning MP Liz Constable for 17 years before going to the Liberals in 2013, then to Labor’s Ms Tonkin in 2021.