Local GP Rachel Horncastle set to be revealed as teal candidate for Cottesloe

The teal movement is set to name local GP Rachel Horncastle as their independent candidate for Cottesloe — the Liberals’ last remaining metropolitan seat — at the State election. The West can reveal that Dr Horncastle is set to be announced as the teal independent candidate on Friday after a social media page was created billing her as the “independent candidate for Cottesloe”. The page links to a website run by Cott Independent, which was modelled on the Curtin Independent campaign that promoted Kate Chaney at the last Federal election. Dr Horncastle, who has worked as a doctor for more than three decades, works in the East Fremantle community, sub-specialising in skin cancer medicine and performing excision. She was contacted for comment. Supporters of Cott Independent were told on Tuesday that an announcement would be made ahead of events over the weekend. Dr Horncastle will face Liberal candidate Sandra Brewer. The seat, held by the retiring David Honey, has been in Liberal hands since it was created in 1950 and was the last remaining metropolitan seat held by the party in the 2021 landslide to Labor. Dr Honey — who has held the seat since he replaced former premier Colin Barnett in a 2018 by-election — lost Liberal preselection earlier in 2024 to Ms Brewer. During their preselection battle, Dr Honey highlighted Ms Brewer’s connections to the property industry in the famously anti-development western suburbs seat. It is likely an independent campaign would employ similar attacks. A statement announcing the launch of Cott Independent has already pointed to “community concerns on a range of issues and the systematic stripping away of community consultation by successive State governments”. On Tuesday, Ms Brewer said an independent would have to “do well” to beat her. “I’ve door knocked on over 1000 homes in the Cottesloe electorate, constantly engaging with the local community,” she said. “We’ve got a fantastic grassroots Liberal Party campaign. “I’m focused on representing the people of Cottesloe to the best of my ability in the State Parliament. “What they tell me is they want more predictability and certainty about the future of their suburbs. The Labor Government has failed to deliver that. “They’ve delivered ad hoc projects which communities don’t understand and I want to see a more cleverly planned, sophisticated system where our community knows what to expect.”