Teal MP Allegra Spender threatens to sue challenger over ‘disgraceful accusation’

Liberal candidate Ro Knox has doubled down on her claims that Wentworth MP Allegra Spender’s volunteers deliberately put a poster on top of an image of an Israeli family snatched by Hamas, despite the independent decrying it a “disgraceful accusation” and her campaign team supplying photographic evidence to the contrary.

Knox first made the allegation to Jewish news site J-Wire and Sky News on Thursday, saying it was offensive and showed a lack of respect. Evidence Knox supplied to J-Wire was a photograph of one of Spender’s posters covering an image of the Bibas family, who were kidnapped during Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

A photograph of the Allegra Spender poster in Rose Bay, timestamped 9.45am on Sunday March 2.

Spender described the claim as “completely false” and threatened legal action on Thursday night. Knox repeated the allegation on Friday morning, saying she would not be intimidated.

Metadata attached to photographs – supplied to this masthead by Spender’s team – contradict Knox’s claims. A photo taken by the volunteer who attached the poster to a fence in Sydney’s Rose Bay, according to his signed affidavit, is dated 9.45am on Sunday, March 2, and no other posters are in the immediate vicinity.

The photograph of Allegra Spender’s poster on top of a photo of the Bibas family, timestamped 11.16am, Monday March 3.

The photograph that Knox supplied to J-Wire showing the Bibas image behind the Spender poster – which was first sent to the Daily Telegraph, according to Spender – carries a timestamp revealing it was taken the next day, at 11.16am on Monday, March 3.

The Spender volunteer who attached the original poster, Ian Osher, said the claim against him was disgraceful. “I am a proud Jewish Australian ... On Sunday morning a group of volunteers and myself were on O’Sullivan Road in Rose Bay,” he said in a video message supplied to this masthead.

“I put up a poster of Allegra on the fence, where nothing else was, and later that day – maybe that night – in a most disgraceful political tactic, someone placed a poster of the brutally murdered Bibas family, murdered by terrorists, underneath Allegra’s poster in order to discredit us.”

A spokesman from Spender’s office said one of their volunteers went to Rose Bay later on Monday to see what happened, after photos were posted to Facebook.

He said the volunteer moved the Spender poster to a different section of the fence and then secured the Bibas poster to the fence with a cable tie as well. A photograph of this new arrangement, dated 2.47pm on March 3, was supplied to this masthead.

The Bibas family’s plight became a symbol of calls to return all Israeli hostages, or their remains, after all four members, including two small children, were kidnapped on October 7. Only the father of the family survived.

A photograph of the Bibas poster and the Allegra Spender campaign poster, dated 2.47pm on Monday, March 3. Her office said a staffer separated the posters and secured them both after they were made aware of the issue.

Their story is particularly sensitive in Wentworth, where 16 per cent of voters at the last election were Jewish Australians. Sites in the area have also been subject to a spate of antisemitic graffiti.

When this masthead presented Knox with Spender’s version of events on Friday afternoon, she said: “I don’t think there’s any way anyone would possibly put that poster behind another poster.”

“A mistake has been made by the teal campaign and those mistakes happen ... My view is focusing on the posters is the wrong energy focus. The teal camp needs to move on and I think the response was disproportionate, to say [they’re] seeking legal action.”

Spender on Thursday night had denied the allegations and said she was “disgusted to see the Liberal Party candidate try to exploit the tragedy of the Bibas family for political gain”.

Independent MP Allegra Spender has launched an attack on her Liberal rival over a claim she says is false.Credit: James Brickwood

“I am considering legal options against the Liberal Party candidate and I ask that she unreservedly apologise. The tragic conflict overseas and suffering of communities in Australia should not be exploited for political gain,” she wrote in an Instagram post.

Knox doubled down in an Instagram post on Friday morning. “Allegra Spender threatened to sue me for saying that it was disappointing her team had placed her poster over the poster memorialising the Bibas family,” she wrote.

“I will not be intimidated. There is clear proof that a poster commemorating the Bibas family was securely fastened to a fence and was later covered by a Teal party poster promoting Allegra Spender.”

Knox did not provide that proof when asked by this masthead. “Clearly the version of events and evidence between community members and Teal MP’s volunteers differs,” she said.

This masthead does not suggest the allegations made against either party are true, only that they have been made.

Knox’s campaign posters have also been defaced with swastikas and moustaches, which the Liberal candidate has reported to police.

“Given the level of antisemitic graffiti that has been experienced by Wentworth, it’s extremely disappointing that one of our posters was graffitied in this manner. The Wentworth community has been through enough,” Knox said.

Candidates clash over UNWRA funding

The stoush over the posters came as Spender sought to strengthen ties with the local Jewish community by calling for Australia to stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), one of the main providers of humanitarian aid in Gaza and the West Bank.

Spender last year signed a letter with other independent MPs calling for the government to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, including through UNRWA if necessary.

Spender’s decision to sign the letter angered sections of the Jewish community in Wentworth and she was uninvited to an event by the Jewish non-profit B’nai B’rith’s Courage to Care initiative.

Now Spender has written to Foreign Minister Penny Wong calling for the government to defund UNRWA, saying she always held reservations about the organisation.

“I believe in the two-state solution. I know people have different views, and I believe that we need strong, robust support to do that. And I don’t believe UNRWA is part of that,” she told The Australian Jewish News.

But Knox accused Spender of “flip-flopping” on the issue.

“She’s doing it very close to the election and it feels like a cynical play for votes.”

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