Independent raises stakes in 2025 federal election battle for Forrest
Independent candidate Sue Chapman has entered Forrest's political fray this election, shaking up the status quo in a historically unremarkable seat when it comes to political contests.
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"I genuinely think this beautiful part of the world has been ignored for way too long … [and] the community sentiment is very strongly that the two-party system is no longer working," Dr Chapman said.
The contest has not gone unnoticed by the Liberal Party, which has sent a series of frontbenchers down the Forrest Highway from Perth to campaign alongside new Liberal candidate and former West Australian senator Ben Small.
Peter Dutton (left) is among high-profile visitors joining Ben Small in Forrest.
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ABC South West: Andrew Williams
)
It began with a visit by Coalition leader Peter Dutton, followed by Liberal Indigenous Affairs spokesperson
"I want to continue that legacy of being a very present local member," Mr Small said.
"
I'm not taking a single vote for granted this election.
"
Forrest stretches across WA's idyllic South West region, encompassing Bunbury and Margaret River.
It was safe ground for the Liberals until the last election when a 10 per cent swing to Labor turned
Dr Chapman 'not teal'
Dr Chapman is one of many independent candidates across the country who have received funding support from political action group Climate 200.
Sue Chapman says she is hopeful of winning the seat.
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ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch
)
As a result, Dr Chapman has been subject to Liberal Party political "attacks", despite her rejecting the idea she is a '"teal" candidate.
Flyers have been posted around the electorate warning people not to take the "risk" of voting for the independent.
Dr Chapman has also been singled out in "Teals Revealed" Facebook ads, which the Liberals have spent more than $250,000 on nationwide.
The Liberals are funding flyers labelling Dr Chapman a teal and ex-Green.
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ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch
)
Dr Chapman said she was disappointed by the "attack ads" being circulated.
"I have been labelled a Labor stooge, a Liberal plant, an extreme Green and part of a teal party and all of that is incorrect,"
she said.
"I am genuinely independent of any party."
Dr Chapman's well-resourced campaign is backed by Climate 200.
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ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch
)
Dr Chapman was previously a member of the Greens and campaigned to
Dr Chapman previously campaigned for the Bunbury Outer Ring Road.
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ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch
)
Mr Small defended the resources put towards ads targeting Dr Chapman, but would not be drawn on whether he was worried about losing the seat.
"Where you do have that history of activism, including getting [former Greens leader] Bob Brown over to attend protest rallies … you need to be clear with people," Mr Small said.
"That does look and sound radical to me."
Ben Small has been campaigning hard to keep the seat of Forrest.
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ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch
)
The moment for change?
Labor is also vying to fill the power vacuum left by departing incumbent Nola Marino.
Labor's candidate Tabitha Dowding is the granddaughter of controversial former WA premier Peter Dowding and was just nine years old when Ms Marino was elected into parliament in 2007.
Tabitha Dowding says now is the time for change.
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ABC South West: Andrew Williams
)
With Ms Marino stepping back, Ms Dowding said it was the "best opportunity" for change.
"It has been 17 years with Nola Marino," she said.
"I really respect her and what she's done for the community but I think this is the moment to have that change.
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"I think that having [candidates for the] teals, Greens, Liberal, Labor — that is healthy democracy."
Both major parties have made significant funding promises for the region, including the Liberal Party's $16 million dollar plan for a new terminal at the Busselton Margaret River Airport and Labor's promise for a new Medicare mental health centre.
What are the chances?
More than 100 independents are
While it would be a "big ask" to expect a seat like Forrest to change hands, James Cook University adjunct associate professor Maxine Newlands said the electorate was vulnerable.
"I think it will be competitive but the fact that [the margin] has reduced down over a fairly short period of time makes that seat vulnerable,"
she said.
There was a big swing against Nola Marino and the Liberal party at the last federal election.
While critics of independents and minor parties warn about the danger of a minority government, Dr Newlands said that was only one way of looking at it.
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"From a position of traditional democracy, it's a good thing because the more voices, the more ideas," she said.
"But it can slow things down, it can cause tension and it can even cause alliances and vote blocking and things like that.
Maxine Newlands says seats like Forrest are "vulnerable" because of the tight margin.
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ABC News: David Sciasci
)
"It can mean that the system struggles to get policy through."
Candidates from the Nationals, the Greens, One Nation, the Legalise Cannabis Party and Trumpet of Patriots are also contesting the seat of Forrest.
A range of candidates are contesting the historically safe seat of Forrest.
(
ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch
)
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In his ruling on the defamation case in April 2024, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found Ms Higgins' claims she had been raped by Lehrmann in parliament house in 2019 were proven on the balance of probabilities. In his headline-grabbing decision, the judge quipped: "Having escaped the lions' den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat" in reference to his doomed defamation bid. Lehrmann's lawyer Zali Burrows told the appeal court on Wednesday Justice Lee's ruling, on the heels of an abandoned criminal trial, meant Lehrmann has become probably "the most damaged man in Australia". Media attention, aggravated by commentary from Channel Ten and Wilkinson, led to a flood of hateful social media comments aimed at Lehrmann, she said. "He's pretty much become a national joke," Ms Burrows told the court. She argued Lehrmann, 30, was denied procedural fairness because the facts found by Justice Lee were "starkly different" from the case run by Ten. The ex-Liberal staffer had been "taken by surprise" the judge had adopted a "softer" sequence of events that had not been put to Lehrmann in cross-examination, Ms Burrows said. She claimed Lehrmann had been accused of committing a violent rape but Justice Lee had found it was a "non-violent rape", prompting Justice Craig Colvin to say he wasn't sure he understood that concept. Ten's barrister Matt Collins KC contended the judge had found Ms Higgins' rape was violent, and indeed: "All rape is violent". Lehrmann argued the judge was not satisfied about a number of the violent elements argued by Ten, including he had held open Ms Higgins' legs. "The sting of the (defamatory) imputation resides in the act of intercourse without consent, not in any detail of it," Dr Collins said. He rejected Lehrmann's suggestions he should be awarded damages of more than $20,000 if successful on appeal. 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In his headline-grabbing decision, the judge quipped: "Having escaped the lions' den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat" in reference to his doomed defamation bid. Lehrmann's lawyer Zali Burrows told the appeal court on Wednesday Justice Lee's ruling, on the heels of an abandoned criminal trial, meant Lehrmann has become probably "the most damaged man in Australia". Media attention, aggravated by commentary from Channel Ten and Wilkinson, led to a flood of hateful social media comments aimed at Lehrmann, she said. "He's pretty much become a national joke," Ms Burrows told the court. She argued Lehrmann, 30, was denied procedural fairness because the facts found by Justice Lee were "starkly different" from the case run by Ten. The ex-Liberal staffer had been "taken by surprise" the judge had adopted a "softer" sequence of events that had not been put to Lehrmann in cross-examination, Ms Burrows said. 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He took issue with Justice Lee's finding Lehrmann had been reckless as to whether Ms Higgins was consenting and urged the appeal court to instead find he knew she did not consent. Ms Wilkinson's lawyer agreed Lehrmann's "level of indifference" could not be inadvertent and instead amounted to a definition of "intentional rape" as understood by an ordinary person. "A young man who knows that a woman is very drunk knows that she cannot consent," Sue Chrysanthou SC said. "This is not a legal question, this is a question that is considered on the standards of the community." Lehrmann not only knew Ms Higgins was very intoxicated but encouraged her to drink, she said. Both lawyers argued Lehrmann had been confronted with the main facts of the case as found by Justice Lee: that sex took place, Ms Higgins did not consent and Lehrmann had been reckless as to her consent. 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The former federal political staffer is appealing his loss to Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson, whom he sued over an interview they conducted with his former colleague Brittany Higgins on The Project in 2021. In his ruling on the defamation case in April 2024, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found Ms Higgins' claims she had been raped by Lehrmann in parliament house in 2019 were proven on the balance of probabilities. In his headline-grabbing decision, the judge quipped: "Having escaped the lions' den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat" in reference to his doomed defamation bid. Lehrmann's lawyer Zali Burrows told the appeal court on Wednesday Justice Lee's ruling, on the heels of an abandoned criminal trial, meant Lehrmann has become probably "the most damaged man in Australia". Media attention, aggravated by commentary from Channel Ten and Wilkinson, led to a flood of hateful social media comments aimed at Lehrmann, she said. "He's pretty much become a national joke," Ms Burrows told the court. She argued Lehrmann, 30, was denied procedural fairness because the facts found by Justice Lee were "starkly different" from the case run by Ten. The ex-Liberal staffer had been "taken by surprise" the judge had adopted a "softer" sequence of events that had not been put to Lehrmann in cross-examination, Ms Burrows said. She claimed Lehrmann had been accused of committing a violent rape but Justice Lee had found it was a "non-violent rape", prompting Justice Craig Colvin to say he wasn't sure he understood that concept. Ten's barrister Matt Collins KC contended the judge had found Ms Higgins' rape was violent, and indeed: "All rape is violent". Lehrmann argued the judge was not satisfied about a number of the violent elements argued by Ten, including he had held open Ms Higgins' legs. "The sting of the (defamatory) imputation resides in the act of intercourse without consent, not in any detail of it," Dr Collins said. He rejected Lehrmann's suggestions he should be awarded damages of more than $20,000 if successful on appeal. Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins when he knew she was seriously intoxicated, continued raping her when she became aware, and left her in a state of undress, Dr Collins said. "That is not a man with any reputation in respect of sexual morality that would warrant compensation," he said. He took issue with Justice Lee's finding Lehrmann had been reckless as to whether Ms Higgins was consenting and urged the appeal court to instead find he knew she did not consent. Ms Wilkinson's lawyer agreed Lehrmann's "level of indifference" could not be inadvertent and instead amounted to a definition of "intentional rape" as understood by an ordinary person. "A young man who knows that a woman is very drunk knows that she cannot consent," Sue Chrysanthou SC said. "This is not a legal question, this is a question that is considered on the standards of the community." Lehrmann not only knew Ms Higgins was very intoxicated but encouraged her to drink, she said. Both lawyers argued Lehrmann had been confronted with the main facts of the case as found by Justice Lee: that sex took place, Ms Higgins did not consent and Lehrmann had been reckless as to her consent. Lehrmann maintains he did not sexually assault Ms Higgins and a 2022 criminal case against him was abandoned without any findings against him. Earlier in the day, Ms Burrows apologised Lehrmann was not represented by a silk, telling the panel of judges he "really wanted" Guy Reynolds SC but "couldn't afford" to engage him. The defamation case and related appeal are among a host of court actions spawned by Ms Higgins' allegation of sexual assault. 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