Focus Goldstein: Libs run hard on antisemitism against Teal incumbent

“This time don’t tust the Teals.”

So read the slogan on a mobile running board outside the Brighton Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne where, on a Thursday night in early April, the candidates for Goldstein faced off before 400 spectators at a Jewish community forum. The sign testifies to the febrile atmosphere in this affluent battleground Victorian seat; inside the synagogue, the moderators of the event hosted by mainstream Jewish and Zionist groups warned that hecklers would be evicted.

The heat is directed at the MP for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, and it comes not only from her opponent redux, the Liberals’ Tim Wilson, who lost to the “Teal” independent in the 2022 backlash against the Morrison government.

Several third party groups — including Better Australia, the group behind the running board — are mounting guerrilla-style campaigns against Daniel and her fellow Teals, either with the barely-concealed aim of ushering in a Dutton government, or with the more agnostic ambition of diminishing the risk of either of the major parties needing to rely on independents, or the Greens, to form government in minority.