Jewish candidate eyes Brighton

Jewish professional chess coach Anthony Hain is running for the seat of Brighton as the Libertarian candidate in the upcoming state election.

In his first foray into politics, Hain says his priorities are defending civil liberties and returning power to the people.

Hain’s first encounter with local politics was during the COVID-19 pandemic when he began protesting against the lockdown measures which he says was met with dismissal from local politicians and hostility from mainstream news outlets.

Following the October 7 attack in 2023, Hain found himself standing alongside grassroots Zionist activist group the Lions of Zion, growing increasingly frustrated at the lack of action from state and federal government.

Since the December 14 Bondi terror attack, Hain has chosen to confront his concerns head-on by officially joining the Libertarian Party as a candidate.

Sitting down with The AJN, Hain spoke about his motivations for running and the issues that are central to his campaign.

“I’m fundamentally someone who has always looked at the idea of you do what you want, I’ll do what I want. Let’s just not hurt each other in doing so. That’s in essence a very Western concept, and it’s a libertarian concept in general. The idea is known as the harm principle.”

This year, Hain has taken the Libertarian pledge, vowing to never increase taxes or reduce liberties.

“Here is a party which is willing to say we believe in freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of ability to express oneself, and those are the same values that are stated on the Liberal Party, but the Liberal Party was unwilling to do those things, whereas the Libertarians were.”

Hain grew up attending Jewish day schools and has seen security increase in recent years.

“I want to see schools that don’t have to be behind these big brick walls … That’s what we need to get back to: the ability for Jews to be openly Jewish without having the need for all those various protections.”

Aside from Jewish community safety, Hain’s campaign focuses on introducing castle law for homeowners, legalising pepper spray and enforcing current incitement to violence laws.

“I’m against the idea of having hate speech laws … For me to be able to call out a specific ideology, that freedom to be able to call out exactly as it is needs to remain … You don’t need to ban phrases. You simply need to prosecute the existing incitement to violence.”

The Victorian state election will be held on November 28.