The new member for North Sydney, Kylea Tink, is staying grounded despite the prospect of playing a major role in a minority Labor government.
“I’ve got no ideas of grandeur; I intend to be me and to be the voice of North Sydney — I think the nation needs the voice of North Sydney,” she tells Crikey.
Tink has just comprehensively beaten Liberal Trent Zimmerman, surprisingly comfortably in a seat that even ardent teal supporters didn’t think might shift.
Hundreds of Team Tink volunteers, almost all garbed in what looks like lurid orange T-shirts, but which I’m assured are more a salmon pink, have braved the rain and crammed a function room at the Kirribilli Club in Lavender Bay, within screaming distance of Luna Park. Every time the ABC coverage on the big screen refers to one of the teal seats, a surprised cheer goes up, but those of us following the results in real time are convinced from early on Tink is set for victory, and the growing gap between Tink and Labor’s Catherine Renshaw — who she must beat to stay in the hunt against Zimmerman — confirms that as the evening goes on.
“The major things for me are climate action, integrity and addressing inequality,” she tells Crikey, after claiming victory to wild cheers. Inequality is her third key area beyond the traditional teal focus of climate and integrity. “I want to see a timeline for the implementation of the Jenkins report, action on the Uluru Statement and a review of our treatment of asylum seekers.”
I ask about the convenient boat of asylum seekers apparently dispatched by the Sri Lankan government and timed to arrive on election eve. She shakes her head in disbelief. “The main reason I said yes to running was because I want a government we can look to for leadership, for optimism and for stimulus when it’s needed. In recent years we’ve had a government that has leaned into fear when it should be about hope.”
Tink is looking forward to her term in Parliament. The former CEO is a compelling and even — dare one use the word — charismatic presence, who communicates as well as you’d expect a one-time communications consultant to, but with a neat line in self-deprecation. She is clearly adored by the throngs of volunteers who crowd around her for photos.
A sense of disbelief lingers in the room that they actually did it. “We won! We won!” one woman yells into her phone.
Tink endured far less savaging in the campaign from News Corp and the Coalition than Allegra Spender, Zoe Daniel or Monique Ryan — which in turn meant a lower profile than candidates regularly being vilified and targeted. Her grassroots campaign meant she flew under the radar a lot more, but she delivered every bit as successful a political strike on the Liberals as that inflicted in more prominent seats.
But while it’s easy — and right — to talk about the remarkable achievements of the teal independents as a group after they collectively sent packing a generation of Liberal talent (and Tim Wilson), Tink’s focus remains on being the representative of North Sydney before anything else — although she understands what has driven such a wave of success for independents: “Politics should be about people, not parties. It’s called the House of Representatives, not the house of parties.”
“I’ve got a fundamental optimism in people making good decisions,” she adds, signalling a positive approach that stands at stark odds with that of the government she’s helped defeat.
Outside the club, where Team Tink people mingle with the remnants of a wedding reception held upstairs, you can watch the play of light from the Sydney skyline on the harbour, much of which is now shaded a distinct teal colour on the political map. Or, at least in North Sydney, an unmissable shade of orange/salmon.
