Kate Dezarnaulds doesn’t see herself as a teal candidate for Gilmore but she’s flattered by the comparison.

The Community Independent candidate is positioning herself as a viable alternative to Labor incumbent Fiona Phillips and the Liberal Party’s Andrew Constance in the race to win the closely contested seat at the May 3 federal election.

Phillips won by just 373 votes from Constance to claim the narrowest margin of victory in the 2022 election.

There were seven teal independents who won seats in WA, Victoria and NSW at the last election and they could have a major say in whether Anthony Albanese retains government or Peter Dutton springs an upset for the Coalition.

Dezarnaulds’ camp claims pre-polling research puts her primary vote at around 13% in Gilmore and if they can get that above 20% they could be in with a chance of carrying that momentum into the election to win the seat on preferences.

“We are yellow rather than teal - there's a reason we've chosen yellow for our brand for the campaign,” she said with a laugh.

“But I'm not at all offended by the comparison with the female independents who have really accelerated action on climate change and advanced the case for integrity and politics and transformed the gender make-up of our parliament.

“If somebody looks at the Kate 4 Gilmore campaign and thinks that there is a resemblance between what we are doing and what Allegre Spender or Monique Ryan or Zoe Daniel have done then I'm very flattered. I mean what a brilliant company to be a part of.”

Dezarnaulds has been getting out and about in the community, up and down the South Coast, hosting Politics in the Pub sessions, screenings of the No Safe Seat documentary, an online youth forum, and meet and greats in several townships.

Kate Dezarnaulds speaks at a meet the candidates forum. Photo: Supplied

The Politics in the Pub event in Kiama was largely focused on environmental issues, such as electric vehicles, which are not a common sight on the roads in Gilmore.

“There is 0.8% of our vehicle registrations in Gilmore that are for EVs,” she said.

“That figure is 15% in the cities and in European countries that's now up to 50% so the people of Gilmore are being left behind when it comes to the benefits of electrification for vehicles.

“I'm really keen to see our small businesses and our households benefit from the cost savings and lower costs that come from electric vehicles.

“I think there are some historical fears around what they call range anxiety and the perception has been that EVs are more expensive.

“There are fewer of our vehicle retailers in the region selling EVs than in the city and we need to upscale our mechanics and our electricians in our workforce to be able to service them reliably in the region.

“We should look forward to much wider adoption and we just need to get the fast charging infrastructure in place so that the increasing proportion of people heading off on road trips out of Sydney and Canberra don’t skip the South Coast as a destination because they worry about they're not being enough fast charging infrastructure when they get here."

Dezarnaulds said eco-anxiety was a prominent topic in the online youth forum while the screenings of the No Safe Seat documentary had received positive reactions.

Kate speaks at the Politics in the Pub session at Kiama. Photo: Supplied

Narrated by Julia Zemiro, the film has been produced by Climate 200 group which has helped bankroll Dezarnaulds’ campaign and it tells the story of the community independence movement in Australian politics.

“It's a brilliant way to put the Kate 4 Gilmore campaign in the context of a wide grassroots movement across the country and transforming the way that we do politics in Australia,” Dezarnaulds said.

“It's been a brilliant way for our volunteers and supporters to see that they are part of a bigger movement and for them to feel the possibility of success and a great opportunity for people to be able to get an overview of the impact that the community independence movement is having on the political landscape in Australia.”