Jewish led group helps unseat independent MP
The group targeted two Melbourne seats held by Teal independents, Goldstein and Kooyong.
Two Melbourne Jewish mothers who launched the “Repeal the Teal” grassroots campaign are celebrating victory.
The group targeted two Melbourne seats held by Teal independents, Goldstein and Kooyong
The campaign, spearheaded by J-United’s Simonne Whine and Sharon Kuper, believes they helped to defeat independent MP Zoe Daniel in the key electorate of Goldstein during the recent federal election.
The former MP Tim Wilson managed to win his old seat back.
At the time of writing, it has just been announced that Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer came a very lose second in Kooyong to independent MP Dr Monique Ryan.
The initiative built on the previous “Put the Greens Last” initiative, which had targeted the inner-Melbourne seat of Prahran at a recent state by-election.
With no party machine or big donors behind them, the group mobilised over 100 volunteers across multiple electorates.
“Our Repeal the Teal campaign was the most active and impactful grassroots effort of the election,” said Whine.
“We trained and mobilised committed volunteers who engaged with voters at prepoll and on election day.”
Kuper said, “Together, we contaminated the Teal brand — exposing questionable funding, irresponsible voting records, and conflicted agendas”.
“We built this from scratch, and we are so proud of what we achieved with our volunteer army.”
The group focused on challenging what they described as the “illusion of independence” surrounding the Teal movement, highlighting concerns about billionaire funding and coordinated messaging across candidates.
Whine said, “We had people walking up and down the lines [of voters], talking to people. They didn’t just stand there handing out a pamphlet, they were really engaging with the public”.
The organisers say this is just the beginning of a new movement aimed at holding elected representatives accountable and defending mainstream Australian values.
Whine said, “We are going to set up something, an organisation [but] what that looks like, and how it’s going to be and what it’s going to be called we don’t know yet, but there will be something.
She said most volunteers had never actively campaigned before,” but they knew this election was different, even life changing, and the stakes were too high to remain disengaged.”
“Barely anyone had ever done this before…everyone was just passionate about what’s happening, both to our community. We had non-Jewish people helping as well, so [it represented] both our community and the greater Australian community”
comments