Trumpet of Patriots (TOP) candidate for Flinders, Jason Smart, has withdrawn his candidacy following an internal party decision to preference the independent candidate Ben Smith, along with Labor and the Greens, ahead of conservative candidates in the upcoming federal election.
In a statement issued over the weekend, Mr Smart said the decision by his party leader, Clive Palmer, to preference progressive candidates went against assurances he says were made to him before he agreed to run.
“I was given an undertaking by Clive Palmer and the Trumpet of Patriots that if I ran as a candidate for them, that the Teal / Labor / Greens candidates would be last on the HTV card,” Mr Smart said.
“I only agreed to run on that basis.”
Mr Smart described the move as a “shocking and sinister” development, and said both he and his wife were in disbelief. According to Mr Smart, supporters who had backed his campaign under the assumption that he would preference Ben Smith last have since expressed outrage over the party’s final how-to-vote arrangements.
He claimed that other TOP candidates were also blindsided by the preference arrangement.
Mr Smart levelled strong criticism at Ben Smith, saying the Teal candidate had misrepresented himself to voters, and accused Smith’s campaign of inappropriate behaviour including unauthorised signage placement and targeted activity near the Liberal candidate’s office.
“Ben Smith refuses to engage with anyone who doesn’t kneel at the altar of climate change, bow to the Green’s activist ideologies or support the antisemitism that runs deep within his campaign team,” he said.
He went on to draw comparisons between Smith’s politics and those of authoritarian figures, saying, “This is not a man of honour or truth – this is a man whose left-leaning agenda brings Stalin, Mao Zedong and Karl Marx to mind.”
Mr Smart also confirmed he had met with One Nation candidate Mike Brown and would now be assisting with Brown’s campaign. Mr Brown is preferencing Zoe McKenzie, the sitting Liberal MP for Flinders.
“A conservative government with One Nation and the Liberals going forward is the best outcome for our nation, and I will assist them to achieve that with my integrity intact.”
He concluded his statement by urging voters in Flinders to put him last on the ballot, saying a vote for the Trumpet of Patriots was effectively a vote for the Teals.
“I share [One Nation’s] desire to see the back of Albanese… and that’s why I’m asking the people of Flinders that when they vote, to put me last.”
