Election 2025: Teal candidate Ben Smith in bed with anti-Israel protesters
A teal candidate backed by Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 has engaged pro-Palestinian activists on his campaign team in Melbourne.
Federal MP Zoe McKenzie has called on teal candidate Ben Smith to sack the anti-Israel “extremists” within his campaign, after revelations of alleged physical intimidation, “bullying” and “harassment” at pre-polling stations on the Mornington Peninsula.
The Australian revealed on Thursday that Mr Smith, who is backed by Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 cashbox, has enlisted pro-Palestinian activists to help run his campaign in Melbourne – including a staffer who called for boycotting Israeli businesses and another who tried to occupy the office of a defence contractor.
The independent candidate for the Victorian seat of Flinders engaged several pro-Palestinian activists to manage his campaign in the state’s east coast, with the Climate 200 campaign bankrolling his digital advertisements to boost his chance at snatching the seat from Liberal incumbent Zoe McKenzie.
Mr Smith, a climate advocate and chief executive of a community support centre in Mornington Peninsula, is running his election campaign alongside Climate 200 staffer Sean Marsh and activist Alex Broers.
The traditionally safe Liberal seat of Flinders covers southern parts of the Mornington Peninsula between Port Phillip Bay and Western Port.
Ms McKenzie won the seat in 2022 by 6.2 per cent.
On Thursday morning, One Nation candidate Mike Brown issued a statement saying he was forced to call police and seek refuge in his car after allegedly being intimidated by Mr Broers last week. Mr Brown said he was approached by Mr Broers and repeatedly asked why he was “racist”.
“I wasn’t deliberately not answering him, it was more shock on my part, but all of a sudden his chest was almost touching mine and he kept asking over and over again why I was a racist,” Mr Brown alleged.
Mr Marsh, who appears in some of Climate 200’s most prominent social media posts and is a “creative strategist” for the organisation, said on Instagram in October 2024: “The horrors I’ve seen perpetrated on Palestinians, and now the Lebanese, will likely haunt me forever. I visited Auschwitz and Birkenau years ago. It changed me then, and this has changed me again.”
Later in the post, he wrote: “I urge you all to boycott all Israeli businesses and write to your local MP demanding action. If they’re complicit, promise to never vote for them again #FreePalestine #FreeLebanon”.
Ms McKenzie on Friday issued a statement calling on the teal MP to sever ties with the two campaign workers.
“Revelations that anti-Israel extremists contributing to the teal campaign in the Federal electorate of Flinders are intimidating rival candidates and campaign supporters are very serious,” Ms McKenzie wrote.
“The appalling conduct of the Smith campaign reported in The Australian is not a surprise given the aggressive, bizarre and often illegal behaviour my team has witnessed throughout this campaign.
“Importantly, with polling continuing in the lead up to 3 May, Mr Smith needs to guarantee that the bullying and harassing of other candidates and campaign supporters cease immediately.”
Climate 200 had previously sought to distance itself from his personal views, saying in a statement: “The views expressed by this individual do not reflect the views of Climate 200.”
The movement to boycott Israeli businesses has been rejected by most political figures, including Anthony Albanese, who opposed the movement at the same time as he was advocating for Palestinian statehood earlier in his career. Greens leader Adam Bandt pledged in the first six months of the next government to push for sanctions on Israeli officials, an end to arms exports, and immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.
In December last year, Mr Broers, who manages Mr Smith’s campaign, organised a delegation of pro-Palestinian activists to occupy the office of defence contractor and technology company Thales in Darwin that has alleged links to Israeli defence electronics companies Israeli Aerospace Industries and Elbit.
At the time, Thales staff blockaded the door with a Christmas tree and refused to talk to the group of activists, who stood outside the office for hours.
The group wrote a letter to Thales demanding it end its “insidious relationship with the Israeli weapons industry” and “retool or move out of Darwin”.
Former candidate Dr Sarah Russell in August last year said Climate 200 had awarded ‘Independent 4 Flinders’ an “accelerator grant” to help fund their search for a “stellar” candidate.
Dr Russell, who ran for the seat in the 2022 election, also ran several grassroot pro-Palestinian walks in the Mornington Peninsula.
Ms McKenzie told The Australian that “outside forces” had been exerting their influence during the campaign.
“The big spending bankrolled by Climate 200 is extraordinary,” she said. “What is surprising with this campaign is the degree to which outside forces are exerting their influence on Flinders.
“It’s not just the financial muscle that’s been imported to weigh into this election in Flinders, the people on the ground are dominated by outsiders.
“They don’t understand local issues and can’t speak on local matters but from what I’m told from locals they focus on national messaging straight from Climate 200 headquarters.”
Mr Smith declined to comment when approached.
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