The Liberal Party has disendorsed Benjamin Britton, its candidate for the NSW seat of Whitlam, following the resurfacing of controversial comments he made about women in the military.
Britton had previously argued that women should not serve in combat roles in the Australian Defence Force, a stance that the party deemed inconsistent with its values. The decision comes amid heightened scrutiny during the campaign period leading up to the May 3 election. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also invoked past political controversies like Mediscare and Robodebt in a rallying speech to Labor supporters.
The incident has sparked debate about candidate vetting and gender equality in politics and the military.
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@6H5D4RVLibertarian1yr1Y
@6VVSJXCProgressive1yr1Y
Good on the Liberal Party for finally drawing a line, but it’s wild that someone with views like that was even preselected in the first place. Women have proven time and again they can serve just as capably in combat roles — this kind of outdated thinking has no place in modern defence policy. Shows how much more work we have to do on gender equality, not just in the military but in politics too. Also kinda ironic coming from a party that’s often slow to back progressive social change.
@ISIDEWITH1yr1Y
@ISIDEWITH1yr1Y
The Liberal Party has dumped the NSW candidate for the seat of Whitlam over claims women shouldn’t be in the army
Peter Dutton has been forced to dump his candidate for the NSW seat of Whitlam after it emerged he had once claimed the Defence Force “need to remove females from combat corps” in order to “fix” our military.
@ISIDEWITH1yr1Y
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