Opposition Leader Jess Wilson will face a cashed-up independent challenger in her marginal seat of Kew for the first time after the funder of the teal movement, Climate 200, exploited a temporary gap in Victoria’s donation laws.

Climate 200 co-convenor Simon Holmes à Court revealed to this masthead his organisation had tipped $40,000 into the campaign of independent candidate Sophie Torney , who is seeking to topple Wilson, and made a matching donation to Shima Ibuki, an independent running against former Liberal leader John Pesutto in Hawthorn.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson is facing a cashed-up challenger in her marginal seat of Kew. Luis Enrique Ascui

The donations would have been illegal – and punishable by up to 10 years in jail – had they been made before April 15, when the High Court struck out Victoria’s campaign finance laws as unconstitutional.…