The Greens have criticised a Facebook ad running in an ultra-marginal Melbourne electorate that suggests the party is a national security risk and may support the listed terrorist organisation Hamas as “inflammatory and untruthful”.
The ad was endorsed by two former Labor MPs and staunch Israel supporters who are spearheading a campaign described as being run by “members of the community”, which is urging voters to preference the Liberals above the Greens in Macnamara.
The group is led by the former federal Labor MP Michael Danby and the former state Labor MP Tony Lupton, who have both – individually and through the group – urged Labor to preference the Greens last. Several Jewish groups have also written to the prime minister to urge the same.
The ad, shared by a group called “Macnamara voters against extremism”, pictures five Greens MPs and senators, and accuses them of voting against a range of national security laws introduced to federal parliament since 2014. It also shows the Greens candidate for Macnamara, Sonya Semmens, asking “Can we afford what’s next?” Meta estimates the ad has an audience reach of up to 500,000 people.
“Votes against laws like these risk helping outlawed groups like Hamas,” the ad says. “If Josh Burns finishes below the Greens, they could win Macnamara.”
A Greens spokesperson said the suggestion the party supported a listed terrorist organisation was part of “an inflammatory and untruthful political campaign against the Greens”.
They accused Danby and Lupton of “masquerading as a community group”, calling it “extremely disappointing”.
When contacted by Guardian Australia, Lupton said he did not believe the ad was inflammatory or untruthful. He said it was designed to highlight an alleged “lack of concern about national security at a time when there are significant and increasing threats, in particular from radical Islamist forces”.
Lupton said the group had other members and that he and Danby were merely figureheads. He said the group was not affiliated with Labor and that he would welcome the Liberals winning the seat if Labor could not.
Labor sources told Guardian Australia the ad was not endorsed by the party and they did not know about it until it was published.
Danby represented the seat of Melbourne Ports before it was abolished and replaced with Macnamara in 2019. Lupton was the state Labor MP for Prahran, which is within the Macnamara electorate, from 2002 to 2010. He ran as an independent at the 2025 Prahran byelection, receiving 12.7% of the primary vote, and encouraged his supporters to preference the Liberals over the Greens. The Liberal candidate took the seat on a 1.3% margin after receiving just one more primary vote than the Greens candidate.
The Liberal candidate for Macnamara, Benson Saulo, told an executive meeting of Zionism Victoria last year that the Greens were “not a party for the environment any more, they are a party for protest and antisemitism”.
In Macnamara, 10% of the population is Jewish, making it the second-largest Jewish electorate in Australia. With Labor, the Liberals and the Greens separated by only a few hundred primary votes at the last federal election, the community’s vote is crucial. A similar vote spread at the 2025 election would make preference distribution vital in determining the outcome.
Labor was yet to finalise its position on preferences in Macnamara but two sources previously told Guardian Australia Labor was likely to run an open ticket and not direct people on how to fill out their ballot papers.
Last week Semmens was told she was not welcome at a community forum to be co-hosted by five Jewish groups this Wednesday night. The co-hosts objected to the Greens’ conduct since the 7 October attacks and accused them of spreading antisemitism – a charge the Greens denied.
Semmens told Guardian Australia on Tuesday she would now be allowed to attend the event but would not be permitted to answer questions or outline her policies on stage, as a local candidate would generally do at such a forum. The Labor and Liberal candidates for the seat were also due to attend.
“I’m glad that my request to attend the forum to listen and speak with residents afterwards has been granted,” Semmens said. “From door-knocking over 70,000 doors across the electorate, we know that Jewish residents are diverse with many different concerns.”
Peter Wertheim, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, one of the hosting organisations, said the broader Jewish community was “all too well aware of the [Greens] party’s position” on issues that impact it.
“Frankly, we have had a gutful,” Wertheim said. “We are not obliged to engage in the masochistic exercise of giving the Greens a platform to tell us more of the same. We have every right to invite or not invite any guest speakers we choose.”
