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Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christian

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Speaker 1: aming it. It's Monday, April seven, twenty twenty five. Labour

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Speaker 1: has edged further ahead of the opposition after the first

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Speaker 1: official week of the election campaign. New data from Newspoll

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Speaker 1: has Labour leading the coalition fifty two to forty eight

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Speaker 1: percent on a two party preferred basis, the same margin

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Speaker 1: that saw them win government in twenty twenty two. Law

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Speaker 1: students at the University of Queensland were on the receiving

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Speaker 1: end of a fiery tirade by lecturer Danny Linda last

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Speaker 1: year after some left the lesson focused on Indigenous legal history.

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Speaker 2: I remember the lockdown. You're not going to get high

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Speaker 2: and you're not going to last. If this is the

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Speaker 2: type of behavior then you're engaging.

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Speaker 1: With You can read that exclusive story right now at

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Speaker 1: the Australian dot com dot au. A Teal Independent and

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Speaker 1: a One Nation candidate walk into a church. It's not

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Speaker 1: a riddle. It's the very real interaction between Victorian contenders

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Speaker 1: Ben Smith and Mike Brown and it was captured on camera.

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Speaker 1: Everyone's got questions about what went down at the secret meeting,

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Speaker 1: but both are keeping mum, that's today's episode. For more

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Speaker 1: than one hundred and thirty years, Saint Mark's Anglican Church

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Speaker 1: at Dromana on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula has witnessed marriages, baptized

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Speaker 1: babies and fareworld members of its small, tight knit congregation.

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Speaker 1: And it's here, in this modest, single story building of

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Speaker 1: sandstone and red brick, that One Nation's Lower House candidate

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Speaker 1: Mike Brown has worshiped for years. Last Wednesday, he attended

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Speaker 1: Marks as he has many times before, to pray. But

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Speaker 1: he was joined on this occasion not by fellow parishioners

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Speaker 1: or members of his family, but by another politician, Independent

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Speaker 1: Ben Smith. Both are running for the seat of Flinders

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Speaker 1: in the upcoming federal election. According to The Australian's associate

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Speaker 1: editor Jamie Walker, the conversation turned from the good word

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Speaker 1: to politics pretty quickly.

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Speaker 2: So, according to Mike Brown, Ben Smith wanted to ask

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Speaker 2: him for his support. And now, what does support mean

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Speaker 2: in an election campaign from an opponent, It means preferences.

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Speaker 2: Mike Brown's story is that Ben Smith made a play

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Speaker 2: for One Nation preferences. Now, mister Smith categorically denies this.

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Speaker 2: He said it was just a catch up that he's

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Speaker 2: happy to talk to any candidate that's running in the seat,

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Speaker 2: and it was no more than that.

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Speaker 1: Ben Smith is himself a man of faith. He's the

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Speaker 1: CEO of the Mornington Community Support Center, an ordained minister,

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Speaker 1: and the reigning Victorian Father of the Year, an honor

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Speaker 1: bestowed upon him for his volunteer efforts and community work.

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Speaker 1: In December, Smith formally announced his intention to run for

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Speaker 1: Parliament at next month's federal election. He's backed by Climate

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Speaker 1: two hundred, the political funding behemoth that saw seven so

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Speaker 1: called Teals, mostly independents, elected to the cross Bench in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, and he's hoping to be the first

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Speaker 1: male Teal candidate elected when voters go to the polls

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Speaker 1: in May.

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Speaker 2: I've seen firsthand the challenges we're facing. Lack of housing,

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Speaker 2: rising costs of living, poor access to health care and infrastructure.

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Speaker 2: I'm not here for party politics. I'm here for you.

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Speaker 1: Ben Smith is running against Mike Brown in Flinders, which

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Speaker 1: is held by Liberal Zoe mca Kenzie.

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Speaker 2: Look, the Flinder's electorate is fascinating. It's a real jewel

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Speaker 2: in the Liberal crown. She's got a reasonably sound margin

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Speaker 2: of six point two percent. But that's not rock solid,

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Speaker 2: that's not did safe in modern terms, and it is surmountable.

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Speaker 2: And of course appeels are having a red hot go

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Speaker 2: edit at this election.

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Speaker 1: So why turn to Mike Brown? Brown has lived on

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Speaker 1: the Mornington Peninsula for decades where he runs a small business.

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Speaker 1: And Australia's preferential voting system means the first candidates to

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Speaker 1: get knocked out of the race, that is, the first losers,

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Speaker 1: can help other candidates get elected by directing preferences on

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Speaker 1: their how to vote cards. So there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: big calls to make for each candidate. How should I

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Speaker 1: tell my voters to direct their preferences and whose preferences

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Speaker 1: might I get in return?

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Speaker 2: I would think you would imagine that that would be

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Speaker 2: the oddest political couple in the history of odd political couples.

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Speaker 2: You can't think of two parties, the Progressive Teals on

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Speaker 2: one hand, and One Nation on the other hand, which

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Speaker 2: is to the right in the political spectrum, hasn't really

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Speaker 2: got two dollars to rub together. And I think this

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Speaker 2: coming together of these two sides is enough to time

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Speaker 2: make your headspin. Now why would Ben Smith want it? Well,

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Speaker 2: the fact is for him to get over that six

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Speaker 2: point two percent margin. He needs every vote he can get,

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Speaker 2: and I think this is clearly his motivation. Now, Whether

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Speaker 2: it was just a catch up with a couple of

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Speaker 2: friendly blokes with nothing much to do on a Wednesday

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Speaker 2: afternoon to sit in an empty church and pray together

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Speaker 2: and have some sort of discussion, who knows, but it's

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Speaker 2: certainly a I think a talking point is a fair

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Speaker 2: thing to say.

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Speaker 1: In a video scene by the Australian Ben Smith was

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Speaker 1: captured walking into Saint Mark's Anglican Church ahead of that

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Speaker 1: meeting with Mike Brown. The thing is neither side is

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Speaker 1: copping to it.

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Speaker 2: Mike Brown's story is that he had set up outside

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Speaker 2: a campaign function for mister Smith last Sunday, March thirty,

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Speaker 2: and that as mister Smith drove away from that function,

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Speaker 2: he mister Brown was sitting there waving the one.

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Speaker 3: Nation flag as you do.

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Speaker 2: But as mister Smith was leading that function, Brown says

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Speaker 2: that he stopped, wound down his window and said, hey,

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Speaker 2: give me your number. And the next day or the

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Speaker 2: day after sometime after this, he gets a call and

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Speaker 2: mister Smith is suggesting that they get together. Now, the

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Speaker 2: original plan was that they meet at mister Brown's place,

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Speaker 2: but that kind of fell through when mister Brown's wife,

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Speaker 2: he's got pneumonia at the moment, said I'd really rather

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Speaker 2: not have that here, which is kind of understandable. So

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Speaker 2: mister Brown then suggested that they meet at his church,

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Speaker 2: Saint Mark's. They did on Wednesday afternoon, and some means

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Speaker 2: that we're not quite clear on, this meeting was filmed,

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Speaker 2: so there's all sorts of allegations of setups and who

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Speaker 2: leaked what going on in the background now over this

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Speaker 2: because again for mister Smith, I think this is quite

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Speaker 2: a considerable embarrassment that he is trying to have a

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Speaker 2: chat to one nation on any terms. To be perfectly frank.

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Speaker 1: Coming up, what should we expect from the Teals at

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Speaker 1: next month's election. The electorate of Flinders was one of

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Speaker 1: the original seats to be contested at the very first

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Speaker 1: federal election in nineteen oh one. It was held by

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Speaker 1: Greg Hunt for almost twenty years prior to his retirement

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two. Though there's only a few percent

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Speaker 1: in an independent like Ben Smith has a tall mountain

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Speaker 1: to climb if he wants to win Flinders from the Liberals.

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Speaker 1: But after its unprecedented success in twenty twenty two, the

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Speaker 1: Climate two hundred is even more motivated for next month's vote.

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Speaker 1: That means the Teals could play a major role in

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Speaker 1: returning Anthony Albernezi and Labor to government. The question is

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Speaker 1: if they're in a position to negotiate After a series

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Speaker 1: of hiccups and gaffes. Last month, the husband of Monique

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Speaker 1: Ryan landed the Ku Yong mp in hot water after

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Speaker 1: he was filmed stealing the campaign signage of her Liberal

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Speaker 1: competitor from Are you Monik Ryan supporter?

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Speaker 2: Ripping down people's signs? Aya?

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Speaker 4: Is that what you're doing? It belongs to me.

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Speaker 2: Hey, you can take it off the property, but it

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Speaker 2: belongs to me.

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Speaker 3: If it goes back up, it'll be taken down again.

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Speaker 4: There you go, Monique Ryan, There you go, community values.

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Speaker 4: Well done mate.

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Speaker 1: Last week, the candidate for Bradfield, Nicolette Buller, was banned

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Speaker 1: from a Sydney hairdressing salon after she made a crude

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Speaker 1: remark to a teenage employee.

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Speaker 4: The Teel Independent challenger for the seat of Bradfield has

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Speaker 4: apologized for making a sexual comment to a worker in

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Speaker 4: a hair salon. She said in a statement it was

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Speaker 4: a poor attempt at humor promising to do better.

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Speaker 1: And today The Australian is reporting that Alegras Beender, the

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Speaker 1: Member for Wentworth, gave an interview in which she appeared

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Speaker 1: to take credit for the release of hundreds from indefinite detention.

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Speaker 5: I think the independence gave the government political cover to

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Speaker 5: be able to deal with this, because refugees has been

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Speaker 5: an area that the Coalition has really hammered labor on

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Speaker 5: in the past. So I think if he had all

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Speaker 5: the Libs back in these seats and was such as

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Speaker 5: tier Parliament as it was before, you know, you would

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Speaker 5: have been much harder for the government to do it.

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Speaker 1: Here's Jamie Walker.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think this is a perception problem for the Chiels.

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Speaker 2: They like to present themselves as being pure as the

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Speaker 2: driven snow in terms of not playing the grubby political

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Speaker 2: games that everyone else plays. What's now very evident is

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Speaker 2: that they do. There's nothing wrong with that, of course,

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Speaker 2: but this is politics in Australia. This is the sausage

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Speaker 2: making that goes on behind the scenes in an.

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Speaker 3: Election which the political players really would rather that you

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Speaker 3: not see. So what it's basically saying is that the

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Speaker 3: Teals aren't much different to anyone else, and they of

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Speaker 3: course would be appalled by that notion. Now in terms

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Speaker 3: of their negotiating position after the election, well, obviously I

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Speaker 3: would think it's potentially stronger than it was in twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty two. But it's all going to come down, of course,

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Speaker 3: to the mathematics. If Labor gets a majority, which looks

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Speaker 3: like being difficult for Anthony alp and easy, the Teals

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Speaker 3: are in no position, are they if it's a minority parliament.

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Speaker 2: It's very hard to see how most of the Teals,

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Speaker 2: or most of the current Teals, with the exception perhaps

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Speaker 2: of a League respinder, would be prepared to negotiate with Dutton.

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Speaker 2: But let's see, there's still a long way to go

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Speaker 2: in this campaign. We're only in week two. Things are

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Speaker 2: only just starting to shake out. Peter Dutton has had

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Speaker 2: a pretty ordinary start to the campaign. I think most

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Speaker 2: people would agree. But does that put Labor in a

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Speaker 2: stronger position than it thought it might be? Maybe, and

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Speaker 2: that is actually not good for the Teals in the

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Speaker 2: sense that if Anthony Albineasi it does retain majority government,

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Speaker 2: it doesn't have to talk to them to form government,

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Speaker 2: and may we'll still have to talk to David Pocock

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Speaker 2: in the Senate, of course, but the Greens there are

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Speaker 2: far more significant as a block than the Teals are.

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Speaker 1: Jamie Walker is an associate editor with The Australian. You

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Speaker 1: can read all about what the Teal candidates have been

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Speaker 1: up to in the run up to next month's federal

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Speaker 1: election anytime at the Australian dot com dot au