The Victorian Greens have accused Labor of running “a desperate and dirty” campaign by using billboards and flyers in a key battleground seat that accuse the party having a culture of bullying, discrimination, sexual assault and transphobia.
The claims are being disseminated across the electorate of Northcote, where the contest between Labor MP Kat Theophanous and Greens candidate Campbell Gome is expected to come down to the wire on Saturday.
The campaign material includes a website, flyers, an advertisement at the Palace Cinema in Westgarth and several billboards listing the Green’s internal controversies going back to 2011.
Articles from major media outlets, including Guardian Australia, the Age and the ABC, outlining internal controversies have been quoted, including reports about federal Greens senator Lidia Thorpe’s undisclosed relationship with an ex-bikie and the internal fighting earlier this year around trans rights.
The Victorian Greens leader, Samantha Ratnam, denied that the party had any ongoing cultural problems and said the issues raised had been resolved.
“All [the material] that they’ve put on the website has been issues we’ve responded to,” she told Guardian Australia.
