Former federal MP Kerryn Phelps will help advise a group of independent candidates whose backers have raised $3.2 million to snatch coalition seats.
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Dr Phelps, who in 2018 won ex-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's Sydney seat of Wentworth, has joined the Climate 200 group's advisory council.
Co-founded by Simon Holmes a Court, it has raised $3.2 million to help independents seize the balance of power at the election due by May 2022.
Dr Phelps joins former federal MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott in advising "underdog candidates who stand for cleaning up politics and following the science on climate change".
"I was one of a band of crossbenchers in the 45th parliament who showed what can be achieved for the Australian people when decisions on issues are made on their merits, on the basis of evidence, and without doing deals," she said.
"With a strong and influential crossbench, we would finally get an effective federal integrity commission."
Dr Phelp was one of 12 candidates backed by Climate 200 at the May 2019 election where she lost to the Liberals' Dave Sharma.
The group helped fuel Helen Haines' victory in the Victorian seat of Indi and Rebekha Sharkie's re-election to the South Australian electorate of Mayo.
Climate 200 will unveil independent candidates in key seats NSW and Victorian seats, including Energy Minister Angus Taylor's electorate of Hume, in November.
Australian Associated Press
