‘Don’t fit the typical mold’: Liberals fight for Macnamara on Middle East and cost of living

Indigenous-Papua New Guinean Benson Saulo is trying to win young progressives, as the Liberal, Labor and Greens candidates all agree cost of living and the Middle East are on the minds of voters.

The Liberal candidate for Macnamara Benson Saulo. Picture: Tricia Rivera

Benson Saulo is not your average Liberal candidate, but with his ­Indigenous-Papua New Guinean heritage and strong stance against anti-Semitism, he is well placed to fight for backing of progressive voters in Macnamara.

The 36-year-old has begun the uphill battle in his contest for the seat, which saw swings in favour of the Greens in the 2022 federal election but ultimately was retained by Labor.

However, had just 298 people who chose a primary vote for Labor voted instead for the Greens, the minor party would have finished ahead of Labor in preference distribution and won the seat from the Liberals, the Greens say.

Mr Saulo, a relatively fresh face in the Liberal Party, says anti-Semitism and the Hamas-Israel war is on the minds of voters in Macnamara and might prove a thorn in the Greens’ hopes to secure a victory at the next election.

“Since preselection, we’ve been out most weekends right across the electorate. What we’re constantly hearing is that people are really concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism across universities and the CBD,” Mr Saulo told The Australian.

“It’s really important to me that we’re stamping out anti-­Semitism, but that we’re also creating community safety and cohesion.”

The Liberal hopeful said the attacks on current Macnamara member Josh Burns, a Jewish MP who has at times broken ranks over the government’s position on matters of the Middle East, and his electorate office is an example of domestic terrorism.

“Josh’s voice is incredibly important but what we’re seeing is a lone voice. So I’d be really proud to be able to stand next to my federal colleagues and stand with the Jewish community,” he said.

Macnamara covers Jewish heartland suburbs including Caulfield, Balaclava and St Kilda East and also contains a large number of Greens voters.

Its demographic has changed as Melbourne’s inner suburbs have become more upmarket and a series of redistributions have shifted the seat’s boundaries.

Previously the electorate was known as Melbourne Ports and had been comfortably held by Labor since 1906.

“We’ve done a few rounds of door knocks and really focused not only on people who are typically Liberal voters but people that are seeing through the Greens and really questioning what they actually stand for. Are they the environmental party of old or have they morphed and evolved into something a bit more that is actually compromising community safety and also promoting anti-Semitism,” Mr Saulo said.

“The conversations we are having, young people (are saying) they’re not a party that represents me anymore. And we’re hearing similar from Labor, and particularly from the Jewish community as well, they don’t feel they’ve got a strong representative voice at a federal level.

“The other element ... is that I don’t necessarily fit the typical mould of what people’s perceptions of a Liberal is.”

Benson Saulo, Josh Burns MP and Sonya Semmens will battle it out for Macnamara.

The Liberal candidate says voters are concerned about cost of living and community safety, with some businesses. particularly in St Kilda. opting to shut doors early.

Mr Saulo has held the role of Australia’s consul-general and senior trade and investment commissioner based in Houston and was also the managing partner of First Australians Capital, a national Indigenous-led investment fund manager.

He shared a motto instilled in him by his family to “never think the world’s not yours”, believing the future for advancing Indigenous affairs was to invest in Aboriginal businesses. “It’s a mindset. It’s not waiting for permission or waiting for self-determination to begin. It’s about enabling people with the means to actually pursue opportunities,” he said.

Mr Burns agreed that cost of living, as well as student debt and climate change, were key issues that his constituents cared about and spruiked Labor’s reforms to tax, childcare and significant investments to renewable energy.

The federal MP also noted that the Middle East had been at the front of a lot of people’s minds. “Myself and my team have been recipients of backlash with attacks on our office,” Mr Burns said.

“It’s about what the government can do to support people and communities that are afraid right now as well as doing more to ­tackle the frankly really distressing anti-Semitism.”

Mr Burns speculated that the fight for the seat was between Labor and the Greens but said Mr Saulo was a “really fine candidate … I certainly won’t be taking the election for granted and Macnamara came very close last time so we’re working very, very hard so that doesn’t happen again.”

NGO consultant Sonya Semmens is hopeful she can secure the seat for the Greens, saying she would advocate for better cost-of-living measures, climate change and affordable rentals.

In Macnamara, most households are rentals and all three candidates are renters themselves.

“In 2022 the Greens came within 300 votes of winning the seat. Looking back over the past decade, we’ve come closer and closer each time, and with thousands of gen Zs coming on to the electoral roll every cycle, a Green MP is inevitable here,” Ms Semmens said.