Source : the age
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Anzac Day is a day for solemn remembrance but if you are hoping to be elected (or re-elected) as a member of parliament, it is also a day for crisscrossing the electorate, trying to fit in as many Anzac Day services as possible.
It was all I could do to keep up with independent teal MP Zoe Daniel and Liberal candidate Tim Wilson as they zipped around the closely contested seat of Goldstein. For both candidates, the day started early at 5.30am at the dawn service at the Hampton RSL.
Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel attending the Elwood Sailing Club’s Anzac Day ceremony. Credit: Wayne Taylor
Daniel had pride of place in the seating on the stage as the incumbent MP and was called on to lay the first wreath.
Following local primary schools and scout groups laying wreaths, Wilson was also called up to lay a wreath before he quickly exited the service while it was still going to get to the next service at 6.30am in Caulfield.
Wilson’s Anzac Day activity has been closely watched after the former MP clashed with one of Daniel’s representatives at an Anzac Day service two years ago in Beaumaris. Daniel claimed he took the wreath her representative was supposed to lay.
Wilson defended laying the wreath, saying he was asked to do so by an RSL staff member because Daniel was not in attendance.
There was no conflict over wreaths this Anzac Day with the drama limited to how quickly the two candidates could get around the electorate.
Wilson managed to make it to the Caulfield RSL just in time to lay his own wreath – somewhat to the surprise of the organisers who announced “a representative for Tim Wilson … Tim is actually here, so Tim Wilson” would lay his wreath.
Daniel was still on stage in Hampton so her representative, Francis Leach, laid her wreath, without incident.
Both Daniel and Wilson then headed to the Elwood foreshore for the third Anzac Day ceremony of the day at 8.30am in front of the Elwood Sailing Club.
Liberal candidate Tim Wilson was also at the Elwood Sailing Club ceremony. Credit: Wayne Taylor
Elwood is just outside of the Goldstein electorate but both politicians still attended to hear kids from Elwood Primary School read a poem and sing the national anthem before the last post was played.
Daniel was called on to lay a wreath but as Wilson is no longer an elected representative, he was relegated, alongside Liberal candidate for Macnamara, Benson Saulo, to the section of “anybody else who has a wreath to lay, please lay a wreath”.
Wilson and the Liberal candidate for Macnamara Benson Saulo lay a wreath together at the sailing club event.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Daniel and Wilson then headed to Bentleigh for a 10am ceremony where both candidates were called on separately to lay wreaths.
Daniel was seated in the front row and Wilson had to make do with being a few rows back but all went smoothly.
Daniel had one further Anzac Day service scheduled, 1pm at the Black Rock Sports Club, bringing an even tally of four services each to both candidates.
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Independent MP Monique Ryan and Liberal challenger Amelia Hamer finally shared a stage for the first time on Thursday night in a tightly controlled candidates’ forum in Kooyong, with both women seeking to shore up support from the electorate’s now-increased Jewish community.
The event was hosted at Bialik College by a coalition of Jewish organisations, including Zionism Victoria and the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, and had none of the theatrics of the Friends of the ABC forum at Kew library on Wednesday, which descended into chaos after far-right agitators gatecrashed the event, prompting one woman to throw a punch at one of the protesters.
Amelia Hamer (left) and Monique Ryan.Credit: Justin McManus
Organisers of the Jewish forum confirmed the AFP were in attendance after the drama of the previous night’s events.
Following a redistribution that abolished the neighbouring seat of Higgins, Kooyong’s boundaries this election now include a larger proportion of Jewish voters.
“Nearly 5000 Jewish voters now live within this electorate – a four-fold increase,” noted moderator Lillian Klein.
Hamer, who has skipped three previous public debates in Kooyong (including two this week), appeared at ease throughout the 90-minute event, delivering well-rehearsed lines and drawing regular applause from the crowd. Ryan was more reserved, opening cautiously but gaining confidence during the discussion.
The crowd at the forum at Bialik College on Thursday night.Credit: Justin McManus
The forum was tense at times, but civil. The two candidates barely addressed one another directly. Among the audience of over 200 people were a handful of supporters wearing Monique Ryan and Liberal-branded shirts.
A few attendees wore “Repeal the Teal” T-shirts – an initiative of the Jewish activist network J-United, which is affiliated with the right-wing lobby group Advance Australia. The campaign has been active in so-called “teal”-held electorates and has distributed material critical of independents, including Ryan, at pre-poll booths this week.
Hamer used her opening remarks to criticise the Albanese government’s response to antisemitism following the October 7 Hamas attacks, accusing it of failing to provide “moral leadership”. She said some Jewish voters in the electorate had shared with her their “escape plans” to leave the country if the situation worsens.
MP Monique RyanCredit: Justin McManus
“We can say this is bad … but in the end we need action,” Hamer said, calling for greater enforcement of existing hate speech laws and stricter visa rules. “People don’t have a right to live in this country on a visa if they’re engaging in vile antisemitic conduct.”
Ryan defended her record on action against antisemitism, pointing to her support for legislation against hate speech and doxxing, and her calls for stronger protections for Jewish students on university campuses. “[But] we haven’t stood up early or hard enough,” she said.
One of the forum’s sharpest moments came when Ryan was asked whether she would consider “negotiating with the Greens” in the event of a hung parliament. She took the opportunity to refute the basis of the idea, saying independents can only “negotiate” with a major party to provide supply.
Amelia Hamer.Credit: Justin McManus
“I will not be negotiating with the Greens,” she said. “They are not going to be in the room … They’re not a party of government.”
Later in the evening, she also defended her decision to co-sign a letter calling for the restoration of humanitarian aid to Gaza via UNRWA, the United Nations relief agency. She said the intention was to ensure starving children received assistance, not to support Hamas.
“I won’t apologise for wanting to provide humanitarian aid to children who are dying,” she said, while acknowledging that the agency had “deeply problematic” elements. Ryan said she had since written to the government urging it to explore alternative aid delivery mechanisms, including Australian-backed medical charity Project Rozana.
Hamer had previously said the letter was “effectively calling for Australian taxpayers to fund Hamas terrorists”.
The two candidates at the forum on Thursday night.Credit: Justin McManus
Both candidates said they supported a two-state solution in the Middle East, but neither backed unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Ryan said such negotiations were not currently possible due to the lack of a legitimate governing authority in Gaza. Hamer said now was “not the right time” for recognition.
Hamer reiterated her belief that a change of government in Australia was needed to restore trust and safety. “Australia is a wonderful country, but we’re going to have to fight for it,” she said.
Ryan said she had learned from past missteps and hoped to continue representing Kooyong.
“If I remain your representative for Kooyong after this election, that’s what I’ll try to do,” she said. “I believe that leaders seek to heal divisions, not to stoke them.”
Zahid Merchant has taken two weeks off work leading up to election day for one purpose: to show up daily at the Broadmeadows pre-polling station and persuade fellow Muslims in Wills to vote Labor out.
A volunteer with Muslim Votes Matter, Merchant was in Broadmeadows on Thursday in a high-vis vest bearing the group’s name, handing out how-to-vote cards — as he has done since pre-polling began on Tuesday.
He says he will continue until election day.
Volunteer Zahid Merchant handing out Muslim Votes Matter flyers at Broadmeadows prepoll booth.Credit: Justin McManus
Muslim Votes Matter is targeting three electorates in Victoria: Wills, neighbouring Calwell (including Broadmeadows, Roxburgh Park and Craigieburn), and Bruce in the south-east (which includes Dandenong, Narre Warren and Berwick).
Once, Wills was among the safest Labor seats in the country. In 1983, Bob Hawke won it with 74 per cent of the vote. Today, Labor’s Peter Khalil holds Wills by just 4.6 per cent over the Greens.
Even as the seat’s southern suburbs, like Brunswick, swung to the Greens, Labor long relied on the northern strongholds of Fawkner, Hadfield and Glenroy. Not any more.
Labor MP Peter Khalil talking to voters at a pre-polling station.Credit: Paul Jeffers
Roughly 10 per cent of voters in Wills are Muslim. The electorate spans 11 kilometres from North Fitzroy and North Carlton in the south – where some booths return Greens primaries as high as 63 per cent – to suburbs near the Metropolitan Ring Road in the north.
Most Muslim voters are concentrated at Wills’ northern edge. And that is where Muslim Votes Matter has focused its efforts, doorknocking for months in Fawkner, Hadfield and Glenroy.
It has also been at train stations distributing material urging Muslims to abandon Labor, and — perhaps most crucially — it has been present at mosques, especially during Ramadan in March.
Many Australian Muslims believe the Albanese government has failed to speak out strongly enough on Israel’s actions in Gaza and on rising Islamophobia in Australia.
“Wills for us is a very clear example of how this government has ignored the issues our community is concerned about,” says Ghaith Krayem, the national spokesman for Muslim Votes Matter.
And no issue is of greater concern than the attacks on Gaza. As of Thursday, the Associated Press reported that more than 51,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children – had been killed since Israel’s post-October 7 offensive began.
Muslim Votes Matter’s how-to-vote cards urge voters to “stand against genocide”, recommending in Wills that the Greens’ Samantha Ratnam be ranked above Khalil.
Greens candidate for Wills Samantha Ratnam campaigning for early votes.Credit: Paul Jeffers
Ratnam has been outspoken on the issue, repeatedly stating since she began campaigning last April that Labor must “show leadership and show strength in the face of a genocide in Gaza”.
Krayem says his group’s volunteers are especially focused on visiting mosques in Wills each Friday.
“We’ll be out there again tomorrow,” he said on Thursday. “We are confident that we are in touch with the sentiment on the ground in the Muslim community, and not just Muslims but the community in general, a great many of whom are in step with the views that we are espousing.”
The Age asked Krayem whether all Muslim voters would be comfortable supporting the Greens’ policies on, for instance, gender and sexuality.
“We will never find a candidate that aligns with all of our faith-based values,” Krayem said. “And a genocide is not about faith. We will continue to deal with the Greens and all parties on a range of issues – but the No.1 issue at the moment for us is genocide.”
Asked about the Muslim Votes Matter campaign supporting Ratnam, Khalil bristles. He said during an interview with The Age earlier this month that it was “based on the false premise that the Labor government has not done enough.
A pamphlet attacking Labor’s Peter Khalil which he singled out as including a doctored image. “It’s me actually ripping a piece of paper that says ‘Cut HECS debt’”
“The Labor government’s been criticised by the Jewish community — not all, but some — for being anti-Israel. It has been criticised by Muslim Votes Matter for not doing enough. The Australian government has voted multiple times for a ceasefire at the United Nations, has worked with the international community, [has] provided the aid and development assistance necessary, has stood firm behind international law. [Foreign Minister] Penny Wong [backed] international tribunals and has called for that adherence to the protection of innocent civilians again and again and again.”
Khalil says there is a clear distinction between the facts of what the government has done and the political attacks being directed at him.
“I’m not interested in the politics of this. I’m interested in representing my community members, the Muslim Australian community members, the people who are needing assistance, who need help [and for me to be] their voice, which I have done within government.”
And the MP says there is “a lot of misinformation and disinformation” being distributed by Muslim Votes Matter and by another group in the electorate, Vote Palestine Wills, particularly a flyer titled “Your Labor MP is supporting genocide”, above a doctored image showing him tearing up a leaflet.
“That shows me ripping up a piece of paper that says ‘Free Palestine’. That is a doctored image – it’s me actually ripping a piece of paper that says ‘Cut HECS debt’. What is disturbing about it is that you have supporters of my political opponents who are quite happy to push such disinformation and misinformation, and other distortions.”
It’s been 23 days since I started my efforts to interview the Liberal candidate for Bruce, Zahid Safi.
I’ve tried calling and texting his personal mobile, his campaign manager and Liberal Party HQ – to no avail.
I’ve sent 12 texts to Safi, one message to his campaign Facebook page, four emails to Liberal party HQ and countless calls – each time asking for an interview as I cover the Bruce electorate this election.
I’ve visited his campaign office in Berwick to find it unattended, and left my contact details at Liberal MP for La Trobe Jason Wood’s office next door. Crickets.
I turned up to Safi’s campaign launch three weeks ago, only to be told to vacate the premises by one of his volunteers before he even turned up.
I spent 8.5 hours at the Dandenong prepoll booth yesterday, hoping for a chance to ask straightforward questions of the man who wants to enter parliament.
His army of volunteers avoided my eye contact and gave vague answers to my questions, and ultimately, he didn’t show up.
The post on Julian Hill’s Facebook page.Credit: Facebook
Labor MP Julian Hill has challenged him to a debate, but similarly hasn’t heard back, and today released “missing” posters on social media. “Where is the Liberal Party hiding him?” the Facebook post reads.
But today, I was told he’d been spotted at the Narre Warren South polling station around 11.30am so I dropped my late breakfast at a Lebanese bakery in Hallam and zoomed over to meet him.
I found Safi at the entrance wearing chinos and a blue shirt so I quickly parked the car and walked with pace down the pavement to say hello. As I approached, one blue-shirted volunteer yelled out “hey!” to warn of my arrival.
Safi crossed the road, and started walking in the opposition direction, but I followed – camera in hand.
“Hi Zahid! I’m a journalist with The Age.”
Zahid Safi spotted at a Narre Warren South polling station on Thursday.Credit: Charlotte Grieve
A man wearing a fedora, shorts and a white-buttoned shirt and tie followed Safi and responded: “Yeah Charlotte. I know who you are. How are ya?”
I explained I’d been trying to get in touch with Safi for weeks. “Why have you been dodging my media requests?”
Safi had this to say: “Cost of living is a huge issue. We’ve been talking to voters and getting in touch with them. Cost of living and meeting as many voters as possible.”
I then asked about the recent scandals engulfing his campaign, like his family’s NDIS businesses that uses fake reviews, stock images and inaccurate corporate records.
“What about your wife’s business that uses fake reviews? What do you have to say to that?”
Liberal candidate Zahid Safi (right) and his minder.Credit: Charlotte Grieve
Safi dodged the question: “See, the people are concerned about cost of living and that is what we’re focused on.”
As Safi began getting into a car, I asked about Labor senator Jana Stewart calling for an investigation into his businesses.
The fedora-wearing minder tried to keep things positive: “We can talk. We are polite. We can talk. Jump out, mate, jump out.”
Safi climbed back out of the car, smiling.
“What do you say to voters concerns about the legitimacy of your businesses? Why does it use fake reviews?” I asked.
The minder chimed in again: “They’re more interested in crime, aren’t they?”
Safi followed the prod: “Crime is a huge issue and they’re more interested in crime, cost of living. Labor has neglected the people of Bruce.”
I kept pushing. “But I’m asking about your business. There are serious questions. Labor has referred you for an investigation. What do you say about the use of fake reviews? Stock images? … What’s going on with that?”
Safi didn’t budge. “People are concerned more about cost of living, crime in Bruce, that’s what Labor has neglected. And that’s why we will be coming and getting Australia back on track. Thank you.”
He then got back in the car and said voters needed him. I asked about his former campaign manager Andrew McNabb, who resigned his Liberal Party membership after revelations in this blog about his offensive online comments about women.
Safi closed the car door.
“Why haven’t you been answering my questions this whole campaign?” I asked into the street.
“We’ve been answering them now!” the minder said as he jumped in the car and drove away.
It’s an odd strategy for a candidate trying to flip a historically safe Labor seat. From the beginning I’ve explained that I’m covering the electorate, and would like to learn more about Safi, see how he’s engaging with the community, and be invited to any events in which he was participating.
The urn was boiled, the nibbles laid out at the back of the room, and the conversation had turned to the percentage of the federal budget spent on the ABC when things took a dramatic turn.
Kooyong MP Monique Ryan had just remarked that the national broadcaster’s annual budget was “about as much as we spend on keeping 100 refugees on Nauru and PNG” when a man’s voice suddenly bellowed from the back of the room.
“We’re just here to ask about immigration and crime,” he said.
In a room at the Kew Library filled with civic-minded locals waiting to hear from the Kooyong candidates about the state of the media, the arrival of the three unexpected men disrupted the calm.
Leading them was a bald man with a goatee, wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the logo of the “Australian Workers Alliance” – a self-described nationalist organisation whose mission includes the “preservation of Western culture and identity”. One of the other men wore a leather jacket and filmed the room with his phone – a dead giveaway that the goal was to capture a viral “gotcha” moment. The third man, dressed in a grey hoodie and sneakers, loitered nearby with his hands in his pockets as back-up.
An unsuspecting convener approached the man and asked if he had registered. He said yes – then launched into his tirade.
Matt Trihey at the forum at Kew Library on April 23.Credit: Rachael Dexter
“I want to know when political crime will address the correlation between immigration and crime. When will the politicians address it?
“We have an unprecedented correlation between immigration and crime. When will the politicians address it? You are putting our people at risk,” he boomed, pointing his finger at the candidates: Ryan, Jackie Carter from the Greens, and Clive Crosby from Labor. Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer was a no-show.
With no security guard present and the room stunned, things quickly escalated.
“This is not the forum for that!” one man shouted.
But the agitator – later identified by The Age as Matt Trihey, an associate of neo-Nazis who denies being a neo-Nazi himself – only roared louder. “This is something these people need to answer because the people are being put at risk,” he bellowed.
“Get out of here,” another man yelled. “Rack off, rack off.”
Trihey responded: “Address it, address it. Are you all too scared to address it?” The three candidates, along with MC Jennifer Bowen, sat in silence as several female organisers attempted to usher Trihey out, one pulling at his arm.
“Don’t touch me,” he screamed. “We are governed by parasites! It’s the biggest issue of our time and politicians are ignoring it.”
By now, Ryan had stood up with the microphone, clearly weighing whether and how to respond.
Trihey began ranting about rising rape rates. At that moment, a clearly distressed woman seated near the front, hands over her ears, let out a blood-curdling scream.
Still, Trihey kept ranting. Other attendees yelled, “f— off!” The woman screamed again. Others tried to calm her down.
A group of women – including Bowen and organisers from ABC Friends – were now actively trying to remove Trihey, but he pushed through them. The room erupted into a cacophony of yelling. Then, the woman who had screamed stormed to the back of the room
“Excuse me, please!” she said, politely nudging aside onlookers before raising her fist and attempting to strike Trihey in the face. Organisers quickly got between them, trying to calm the woman. Ryan moved to console her.
The meeting was interrupted, then devolved into chaos.Credit: Rachael Dexter
Ryan then asked Greens candidate Jackie Carter to call the police.
Trihey, grinning at the chaos, kept shouting.
“We are the working class, we are the working class,” he yelled.
Eventually, the trio began moving towards the exit. I attempted to ask them who they were and what organisation they represented, but Trihey’s cameraman turned his back. The woman inside screamed again.
Laughing, Trihey said: “I hope I haven’t spoiled your evening, guys. I just want answers!
“I want to go to bed at night and not worry about home invasions.”
An older woman gave Trihey a final shove out the door, to which he responded: “I’m very fragile … have a great day, guys!”
He continued yelling through the sliding doors until an organiser finally closed them.
Outside, I spoke with the trio. Trihey gave his name, but the other two refused. They denied being members of a political party, saying only that they were affiliated with Trihey’s outfit.
A few moments later, the police arrived.
Back inside, Bowen worked to calm the shaken room. One attendee led a brief relaxation exercise.
“If you need to wiggle in your chairs or put your arms in the air or take your feet on the ground, do whatever you need to, because we’re not here to talk about neo-Nazis right now,” she said.
The forum continued for another 40 minutes, including a debate about legislation on social media access for minors and the need for stronger misinformation regulation.
Afterwards, I caught up with Ryan. She said she had spoken to the woman who attempted to hit Trihey, but organisers told me the woman was still quite distressed by the incident.
Ryan also appeared on ABC Radio Melbourne earlier today for a debrief with host Brett McLeod.
“I think the thing that really distressed some of the members of the audience is they started shouting about rape and women’s rape. It was all a bit incoherent, but it was threatening, and it was really unfortunate, because many members of the audience who are a little bit older [were] really taken aback by the events and clearly a bit threatened by them.”
Ryan, also bewildered by the scene, described the moment involving the older woman.
“She was a little lady, pretty frail, and he was not a small man, and I was really concerned about that, and their potential for that to escalate, where he did give her a push or something like that.”
She said the woman was “a bit horrified by the whole thing”, telling Ryan she’d been “really enjoying the event” and found it “a really worthwhile thing”.
“She was really, really angry at these gentlemen for disrupting as they did,” said Ryan.
I tried to contact the woman today, but organisers said she was too distressed to respond.
Despite the drama, Ryan said community groups should not be deterred from holding forums, something the organisers of last night’s event agreed with. Next time, they’ll book a security guard.
“We shouldn’t be silenced by right-wing nut bags,” said Ryan. “Essentially, we should continue to have these forums and enjoy the democracy that we’re so lucky to have.”
A docile candidates’ forum about public broadcasting, at a library in Kooyong, descended into chaos on Wednesday evening after far-right agitators gatecrashed the event, prompting one woman to throw a punch at one of the protesters.
Kooyong MP Monique Ryan personally intervened to stop attendees getting into physical altercations after a frustrated female attendee tried to punch one of the agitators in the face. It’s the second such disruption at a forum in Kooyong this week.
Ryan was speaking alongside Greens candidate Jackie Carter and Labor candidate Clive Crosby to a crowd of about 60 people at Kew Library at the event convened by Friends of the ABC to discuss the state of the media in Australia and ABC funding. Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer was invited but did not attend.
About half an hour into the discussion, three men entered the room, and one – who later identified himself to The Age as Matt Trihey – began shouting about immigration causing crime, knife crime, political donations and home invasions.
“You people are destroying this country because you will not address civic safety,” he shouted.
Attendees at the event started yelling at the men to leave. One woman approached Trihey and attempted to punch him in the face before other attendees intervened – including Ryan.
The woman appeared distraught after the incident and was quickly comforted by Ryan and others.
Trihey was flanked by two other men – one of whom who was filming – who did not give their identities to The Age.
The trio were eventually shepherded out after about eight minutes when police arrived. Trihey is trained in martial arts and was a member of the Lads Society, founded by neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell, but has since denied being a neo-Nazi himself.
Police were called to the forum about 6.30pm after protesters disrupted proceedings.Credit: Rachael Dexter
Earlier this year, Trihey and his self-described “nationalist” group, the National Workers Alliance, gatecrashed a Chinese celebration in Box Hill, which was filmed and praised by neo-Nazi Joel Davis as “solid work”.
Trihey also drew attention at this year’s Australia Day rally alongside white supremacist Blair Cottrell, and last year when he opened an anti-transgender rights rally on the steps of Victoria’s parliament.
Marion Crooke, an organiser of the Kew event, said the three men entered during proceedings while the front door was unlocked and the registration table unmanned.
“I asked him if he had registered, he said yes – I had no opportunity to check,” she said. Crooke said she hadn’t considered the event might need security, and was shocked by the events that transpired.
Afterwards, we spoke to Ryan who said she didn’t feel any personal threat against her, but had been concerned about the distress caused to the attendees.
“They weren’t expecting that sort of interruption, and it was upsetting [for them],” she said.
Ryan asked Greens candidate Jackie Carter to call the police.
“I was concerned for them. I was also concerned that things could potentially get out of hand if someone felt the need to [physically] intervene,” she said. “It’s unfortunate … I’ve not heard of that sort of thing [happening at other forums].”
A Victoria Police spokesman said officers were called to the event about 6.30pm.
“Officers spoke to the men and at this stage no further complaints have been made to police. The investigation is ongoing,” he said.
Labor senator Jana Stewart has fired off letters calling for an investigation into Liberal candidate for Bruce Zahid Safi’s NDIS businesses after reporting in this blog.
Yesterday, we brought you news of the curious case of Safi and his wife’s business empire – which includes NDIS businesses that publish fake reviews, stock images and inaccurate corporate records.
Stewart, a member of parliament’s joint standing committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, clearly read the stories because she fired off a letter today detailing the allegations and calling for a multi-pronged investigation.
The registered address for Infinite Community Supports, whose website hosts fake reviews.Credit: Charlotte Grieve
Her letter was addressed to NDIA chief executive Rebecca Falkingham, but copied in were AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw, ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant and ACCC chairperson Gina Cass-Gottlieb.
“Dear Ms Falkingham,
“I refer to the enclosed media report published by The Age on 22 April 2025 (the report) in relation to several businesses owned by or linked to Mr Zahid Safi.
“The report is deeply concerning. It raises serious questions about whether three NDIS businesses owned by, or linked to, Mr Safi are genuine NDIS providers and, if so, the standard of care provided to vulnerable participants being services by Mr Safi’s businesses …”
Stewart writes that “given the range of possible offences across multiple Commonwealth statutes”, she considers it appropriate to bring the issues to the attention of key agencies for investigation.
Senator Jana Stewart.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Stewart’s letter singles out three of Safi and his wife’s NDIS businesses – Willow Support Services, Casey Care Services and Infinite Community Supports – as requiring scrutiny.
The letter says NDIS providers should act with “honesty, integrity and transparency” and questions whether the use of fake reviews, stock images and outdated addresses across these businesses meet that standard.
“Willow Support … appears to have its registered office at an address it does not occupy,” she writes.
A Liberal source told The Age yesterday that Safi has “no role” in one business, Infinite Community Supports, but Safi’s mobile number is listed on the company’s website, and Stewart queried whether accurate information had been provided in the registration process.
“The report raises serious questions about the quality of the initial registration audit and subsequent audits,” she wrote.
“In light of the deeply concerning matters raised in the report, I urge … a thorough investigation of these three NDIS providers.”
The Liberal Party has so far stood by its candidate.
After declining to answer detailed questions about Safi’s many businesses, a spokesperson issued a statement on Tuesday: “Like many small business owners, Zahid acknowledges that his administrative paperwork isn’t always up to date and has taken steps with his accountant to rectify [this].”
The Liberal Party was contacted for comment about Stewart’s push for an investigation today. I sent Safi a full copy of the letter, and called and texted to see if he wanted to respond, but didn’t hear back.
Minister for Social Services and the NDIS Amanda Rishworth said she was aware that a referral had been made for the issue to be investigated: “The reports about the Liberal candidate for Bruce’s NDIS businesses are concerning …
“Ensuring the integrity of the NDIS – and the quality and safety of participants – is something our government has prioritised.”
I arrived at the pre-poll station for Bruce at Dandenong Stadium about 10am and things were already in full swing.
The ABC’s Patricia Karvelas was interviewing Labor MP Julian Hill for television, and Greens candidate Rhonda Garad was surrounded by volunteers from Muslim Votes Matter.
Labor MP Julian Hill at the pre-polling station in Dandenong.Credit: Charlotte Grieve
“Why do we have to be served up such a poor candidate?” Garad said, referring to our story about Liberal candidate Zahid Safi’s businesses from yesterday.
“There’s been a lack of due diligence and people are angry.”
Our story raised questions about businesses owned by Safi, including the use of fake reviews, stock images and outdated addresses. Documents filed with the corporate regulator show two of Safi’s businesses – NDIS provider Casey Care Services and training business Inspire Training Australia – have been deregistered as recently as March for unpaid fees.
Volunteers from across the political spectrum (One Nation, Libertarian, Greens, Muslim Votes Matter, Australia Votes) came up to me to say thanks for the story. “The sector is rotten,” said one, who didn’t want to be named.
So where is the Liberal candidate? He manned this booth for hours yesterday, but didn’t appear this morning.
“He will be here,” one of his more than 10 volunteers assured me. “That’s allowed.”
But after almost three hours passed, there was still no sign of the candidate who has been hard to track down this campaign.
So instead, I turned my attention to the voters turning up to cast their votes early.
David Moore from Doveton voted Liberal out of fear Labor would make changes to negative gearing.
“I own a few properties,” he said.
Bruce resident David Moore voted early on Wednesday.Credit: Charlotte Grieve
Moore said he was voting for the party, not the candidate, and was worried Labor would strike deals with minor parties that might hurt his investments in the event of a hung parliament.
Moore works in NDIS and hadn’t read our story about questions around Safi’s NDIS businesses, but said he would be concerned if they were using fake reviews.
“It is concerning,” he said of the reports. “But I’m not voting for him, I’m voting for the party. I’m voting for Dutton.
“There’s not a lot of regulation around [the] NDIS. One of the most ridiculous things is you only need an ABN to work in NDIS.”
Rohit Singh works in tiling and also voted Liberal. He said Labor hadn’t delivered on promises and he felt let down by Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan, who had been “sticking her nose in other problems”, referring to her comments on Richmond’s Noah Balta.
Voter Rohit Singh is unconvinced Anthony Albanese’s government is helping those struggling.Credit: Charlotte Grieve
“She shouldn’t be doing that,” he said.
He added that Albanese often talked of growing up in public housing, but he was unconvinced Albanese’s government was helping people in the same situation.
“He should be helping people but he’s not.”
Another voter, Zorica Freeman, said she had just voted Liberal “because everything is too expensive these days”.
“Labor has neglected a lot of stuff, so a change in government would be a good thing,” she said.
Freeman thought Safi was a good candidate, but criticised the NDIS sector more broadly.
“As far as I’m concerned, they should cut out the middlemen.”
Valerie Stevenson lives in public housing nearby and voted Labor, even though she said she’d felt let down by Albanese’s leadership.
Valerie Stevenson is struggling with the cost of living on her pension.Credit: Charlotte Grieve
“I don’t trust either of them,” she said of the major parties.
Stevenson relies on the pension, and said her Centrelink payments recently went up by $8, but then her public housing rent went up by $10, so she’s been left worse off.
After buying basic food, petrol and bills – she doesn’t have much left, so spends most of her time at home.
“It’s hard,” she says. “I’ve always voted Labor.”
Just on noon, a large bus sponsored by a lobby group from Queensland called Minority Impact Coalition started circling the carpark with a big attack ad against Labor: “Labor and Julian Hill failed us.”
The right-wing group describes itself as a coalition of “multi-ethnic backgrounds” concerned about Labor and the Greens, endorsed by Hindus of Australia, QLD Jewish Collective and the Iran Novin Party.
As the sun beat down on the pavement in the early afternoon, blue-shirted volunteers dished out sunscreen to its people.
Online, Hill posted a video of what he described as Safi’s only interview – weeks ago with Sky News.
“I’ve challenged him to a debate, but he seems to be in hiding,” he wrote.
Locals packed into the pews at Armadale Baptist Church on Tuesday evening to hear three Kooyong candidates take questions on one of the more emotionally charged — and politically fraught — issues in Australian politics: the treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum.
Notably absent was Amelia Hamer, the Liberal Party’s candidate for the seat. Organisers said she’d been invited, but never confirmed. Her absence left a conspicuous empty chair again.
Hamer also skipped a climate-focused candidates’ forum earlier this month.
While the forum was largely calm and refugee policy-focused, there was one moment of tension when an audience member — whom The Age has identified as anti-lockdown campaigner Harrison McLean — stood to ask independent MP Monique Ryan about the incident from last month where her husband was caught on camera removing a Hamer campaign sign.
“We’ve talked a lot tonight about refugees but my question is actually about political integrity. How can the voters of Kooyong trust your campaign, when your husband was caught stealing a corflute of a rival campaign opponent?” asked McLean who was filming on his phone and later posted it to his Telegram channel, Melbourne Freedom Rally.
There was uproar in the audience.
Ryan did not respond, and Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, stepped in with a firm and widely applauded rebuke.
“Excuse me. Sorry… this is an event on refugees, and we don’t appreciate being hijacked for issues that are not regarding refugees,” he said.
“Please respect the purpose of tonight and the voices of refugees. This is not your platform tonight. Pick another one. Please sit down and please disregard that question … You are welcome to get your gotcha moment somewhere else. It’s not here.”
I tried to approach McLean afterwards for comment but he made a beeline past me for the exit without answering. McLean was revealed last week as one of two far-right agitators who confronted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a similar incident in a hotel lobby.
I reached out to McLean again today for comment and he said he “entered the event with the intention of asking a tough but fair question to Monique Ryan.”
“It is disappointing that she did not address the question, and that genuine critical inquiry into the candidates was shut down by the organisers of the event.”
If you are interested in watching the full forum back, you can watch it here. But here is a summary of what the candidates had to say on the issue of asylum seekers and refugees.
Ryan: “Our politics has become meaner and smaller”
Ryan, seeking a second term in Kooyong, didn’t hold back in her critique of Australia’s asylum-seeker policies, describing them as increasingly punitive and lacking in transparency.
“Our politics has become meaner and smaller in the last two or three decades,” she said.
Kooyong candidates at a forum in Armadale on Tuesday night organised by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
“I remember when I was a child, Australia taking refugees and asylum seekers was a source of pride for the country. It wasn’t something politicians fought over.”
She praised former prime ministers from both major parties – Bob Hawke, Malcolm Fraser and Paul Keating – for leading with compassion on refugee issues, and paid tribute to one of her predecessors, the late Liberal MP Petro Georgiou, who died two weeks ago.
“He was a man who demonstrated great personal integrity in the way that he fought for the rights of refugees,” Ryan said.
Ryan called for an end to indefinite detention, greater access to services for people on bridging visas, and a clear pathway to permanent residency for those caught in the fast-track system.
Crosby defends Labor’s record, calls out rising extremism
Labor’s candidate, Clive Crosby, highlighted changes made under the Albanese government — including increasing the humanitarian intake to 20,000, abolishing temporary protection visas, and speeding up visa processing.
He also expressed concern about the rise of far-right sentiment in Australia, referencing extremist groups with Donald Trump-style rhetoric calling for mass deportations.
Independent MP Monique Ryan, Labor candidate Clive Crosby and Greens candidate Jackie Carter attended the forum but Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer did not.
“If I was elected, I would call it out and would not behave in that way and engage in the sort of dog whistling that we’ve seen in the vilification of refugees and migrants from people in the previous government and just generally in the community in these dangerous fringe groups,” he said.
When asked what Labor would do for people still in limbo, such as those medically evacuated from Nauru and PNG, Crosby said the government was working through them.
“Unfortunately, we can’t simultaneously review 7000 cases,” he said. “It is being done on a case-by-case basis because these are rather complex cases.”
Greens: “Seeking asylum is a human right”
Greens candidate Jackie Carter called for a complete end to offshore detention and for Australia’s humanitarian intake to rise to 50,000.
“Seeking asylum is a human right, but right now, our government is treating it like a crime,” she said.
Carter said that people granted refugee status should have full access to work, education, and social services — and delays and legal uncertainty were causing real harm.
“I think sometimes that is lost in the bureaucracy … we’re talking about real lives and people and families.”
The Greens’ policies aligned closely with many of the positions supported by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, which hosted the forum.
When the last local paper in Brunswick closed in 2021, during COVID’s second year, Mark Phillips decided to do something about it.
His Leader newspaper was the last in a succession of local papers in Brunswick to fold. Phillips, a journalist for almost two decades before leaving the Australian Financial Review in 2008, saw a vacuum.
Mark Phillips, publisher of Brunswick Voice.Credit: Simon Schluter
“I thought, I’ve got the experience and skills to do something myself,” says Phillips, who launched Brunswick Voice in 2021 as a blog.
It’s since grown into a website, weekly newsletter and quarterly print edition with 5000 copies distributed in public places. “Anywhere people congregate,” says Phillips.
Brunswick Voice is part of a wave of “hyperlocal” news sites in inner Melbourne.
Others include The Rotunda (Fitzroy North), TWISK (St Kilda), and The Westsider (Footscray).
University student Charlie Gill launched The Rotunda, also in 2021, named after the rotunda in Fitzroy North’s Edinburgh Gardens.
“We were in COVID, and it seemed like a good thing to do – North Fitzroy has a community feel and a newspaper made sense,” Gill says.
Depending on his university workload, the 24-year-old publishes four to six editions a year.
His latest featured Labor’s Peter Khalil and the Greens’ Samantha Ratnam on the cover in front of the rotunda, after a redistribution had brought the suburbs of Fitzroy North and Carlton North into Wills for the first time.
“North Fitzroy is a big deal because it has now come into Wills, and it’s a big question of whether they will stay with the Greens or go back to Labor,” Gill says.
Gill has about 6000 copies of The Rotunda printed. “We try to get them to every door in North Fitzroy – that’s the goal – and into cafes.”
This election, local papers like The Rotunda and Brunswick Voice aim to better inform residents.
“Access to news about US politics is now so much bigger than what’s happening in your own street,” says Phillips, who hopes newspapers and websites like his can help fill the gap left by the demise of traditional local papers.
“People can just about read what Donald Trump had for breakfast, but in terms of what decisions the council is making or what investments or decisions the state and federal governments are making about things like transport or education in your area, you’re in the dark.”
Phillips began in the 1990s on a country paper in Echuca, moved through suburban and metro papers and worked in the federal press gallery, before leaving the AFR’s Melbourne bureau.
Originally, he “basically subsidised [Brunswick Voice] because I really believe in the importance of doing this”.
Now, while he isn’t earning an income from the newspaper and website, ads and donations means Phillips breaks even.
The current edition carries ads from Ratnam and Khalil – the Greens got the all-important front page slot, while Labor took out a full-page ad inside.
“I sent the same email to different advertisers and said, ‘These are the options, first in, best dressed’, and the Greens were first – I would have been equally happy to take Labor on the front page if they’d come back first.”
Phillips has made space for minor parties running Wills too, like Fusion’s Owen Miller.
“Fusion will only get a couple of per cent of the vote, but he’s really having a go, and he’s in it for the right reasons,” Phillips says.
“That’s something where local newspapers can have an impact. And local announcements are important. Labor announced a new emergency healthcare clinic in Coburg. That’s not going to make national news, but it’s important for people to know in the electorate, regardless of who is promising it.”
The trade-off is he doesn’t always get to some events the mainstream press is at – like a recent visit by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to a Pascoe Vale South chemist, which Phillips only heard about afterward.
Phillips reports what he can, but knows there’s a huge gap left by the wider collapse of local media in Australia, and internationally. “So much goes unreported and unrecognised because local papers don’t exist any more.”
He bristles at claims that Facebook groups and other social media sites or apps fill the gap.
“The idea that they fill the void – they absolutely don’t. They don’t do the on-the-ground reporting and they generally descend into absolute trivia or people hurling insults at each other.”
