The federal election battle in the seat of Flinders has taken a sharp and personal turn, with incumbent Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie launching repeated attacks on independent challenger Ben Smith, as polling suggests the once-safe Liberal seat may now be in play.
At the heart of the Liberal campaign is a growing focus on Smith’s financial support from Climate 200, the Simon Holmes à Court-backed political funding group synonymous with the “teal independent” movement. While Smith has distanced himself from the teal label and insists his platform is locally driven, the Liberals have sought to frame his candidacy as aligned with an “inner-city activist agenda”.
That attack line escalated this week, with The Australian reporting that several pro-Palestinian activists have been involved in Smith’s campaign. McKenzie’s team seized on the report, accusing Smith of “being in bed with protesters who oppose Australia’s democratic values” — a charge Smith has described as “desperate fearmongering from a party on the slide”.
“This is classic distraction politics,” Smith hit back. “Voters in Flinders are more concerned about housing, cost of living, and being heard — not dog-whistle attacks.”
The clash reflects a deeper fracture in the Flinders electorate, which has been held by the Liberals for all but one term since 1944. Although McKenzie retained the seat in 2022 with a comfortable margin, a recent Redbridge poll shows the Liberal vote down 11 points, with most of that support shifting not to Labor, but to independents and minor parties — a clear signal of discontent among the Coalition’s traditional base.
Smith has tapped into that sentiment, particularly in the Western Port communities of Hastings, Bittern, and Somerville, where residents cite long-standing underinvestment and infrastructure neglect. His grassroots campaign, bolstered by volunteers, small donors and Climate 200 backing, positions him as the candidate “who lives here, listens here, and works for here”.
McKenzie, meanwhile, has leaned on her national policy credentials and economic experience, while warning voters against “fracturing the vote with unaccountable independents backed by opaque interest groups”. The campaign has morphed into a referendum on trust — both in major parties and in the independents aiming to disrupt them.
Labor’s Sarah Race, a Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor, remains a credible candidate with strong local ties. But despite national polling gains for Labor, Race is trailing in local surveys. The party has not held Flinders since 1983, and the contest is widely viewed as a two-way race between McKenzie and Smith.
Polling places across Flinders opened at 8am today and will close at 6pm. With momentum swinging and tempers flaring, Flinders is no longer a predictable seat — and may deliver one of the biggest upsets of the 2025 election.
