New Liberal candidate for Whitlam claimed ‘Marxist brainwashing' happening at Australian schools

The Guardian

08-04-2025

The new Liberal candidate for the seat of Whitlam once claimed school students were being 'brainwashed' by Marxist and woke ideologies – despite replacing another candidate dumped by the party for his controversial views.
The party's New South Wales branch administrative committee confirmed on Sunday Benjamin Britton had been disendorsed after Guardian Australia revealed a string of controversial views on fringe podcasts last year, including that women should be banned from frontline roles in the military and that the education system was 'indoctrinating' young Australians about Marxist ideologies.
A Liberal party spokesperson said Britton was dumped for 'views expressed which were not previously disclosed and are inconsistent with the party's position', with Nathaniel Smith, a former MP for the NSW seat of Wollondilly, confirmed as his replacement.
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Smith, a member of the party's religious conservative faction, held Wollondilly between 2019 and 2023 under the NSW Liberal government before he was ousted by an independent challenger.
Smith's maiden speech outlined his views on 'political correctness' and 'Marxist brainwashing' of school students.
'Political correctness in this country has gone too far,' Smith said in May 2019.
'We saw a war on the coal industry just to appeal to the latte-sipping lefties who live in inner-city seats, with no regard for regional areas such as my electorate.
'I believe childhood is a period of innocence. I want to see schools teach core skills, not agendas. I want my children to learn about history, geography, mathematics, Western civilisation, science and the arts; not Safe Schools, gender fluidity and other forms of Marxist brainwashing.'
Smith said Australians needed to 'recognise', 'embrace' and maintain Judeo-Christian history in school curriculums.
The then-southern highlands MP visited a Melbourne rally against abortion in 2019, hosted by Bernie Finn, amid fierce debate over a bill to decriminalise abortion in NSW.
At an August 2019 anti-abortion rally, Smith said abortion should not be decriminalised.
'This is not an issue like a hip replacement, a nose job, a fake tan – this is a human being,' he said at the time.
'This will not protect women, this should not be going into the health care act, it should remain in the crimes act.'
Smith's interests include preserving Australia's reliance on gas. Asic records show Smith was appointed director of a pro-gas interests group, co-directed by the chief executive of a Beetaloo Basin gas company, just a month before he was announced as the Liberal's last-minute replacement in Whitlam.
The Liberal party were approached for comment.
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Smith, who is also the chief executive of Master Plumbers NSW, joined Australians for Natural Gas as one of its three directors in March, Asic records show.
The group describes itself as a 'not-for-profit organisation representing the interests of Aussie households, industries, and producers' and supports the 'expanded production and continued use of Australia's abundant reserves of natural gas'.
Candidates are not precluded from holding directorships.
The group also lists the chief executive for Tamboran Resources, Joel Riddle, as one of its directors.
The US company Tamboran Resources signed a nine-year gas sales agreement with the former Northern Territory Labor government in 2024.
The deal was announced close to a year after the NT government said production could commence in the Beetaloo basin, despite science and energy agencies warning there can be no more exploitation of new oil, gas and coalfields if the world is to limit global heating to 1.5C.
In a social media post in December last year, Smith shared a pro-nuclear post, writing 'it's coming. Get ready for it' using hashtags, 'don't question the science' and 'until then, gas and coal are king'.
Lyndal Maloney, a former adviser for conservative political group, CPAC, is also listed as a director for Australians for Natural Gas.