The South Australian Liberals have defended an election campaign flyer that attacks a Labor MP for his views on the Middle East and carries the slogan “Defend Australian Values”, but appears to mistakenly show an image of a Sudanese flag instead of a Palestinian one.
While Labor has labelled the flyer a “grubby attack”, Liberal campaign spokesman and upper house MP Ben Hood defended its messaging — but said a “mislabelled image from a stock image provider” was to blame for the “regrettable” error.
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The flyer targets long-time Labor MP Tony Piccolo, who is the member for the seat of Light in Adelaide’s north but is contesting the adjacent seat of Ngadjuri at this Saturday’s state election.
The flyer shows Mr Piccolo’s face, as well as two flags — including the Aboriginal flag — which have been superimposed with messages stating Mr Piccolo “supports the Voice to Parliament” and “supports Palestine”.
The flag behind the second of those messages shows a tricolour of red, white and black with a green triangle — the colour scheme of the Republic of the Sudan, not Palestine, which has a black, white and green tricolour with a red triangle.
The flyer also shows an Australian flag and the slogan “Defend Australian Values”.
Labor accused the Liberals of resorting to “grubby attacks”. (Supplied)
On 891 ABC Adelaide this morning, Mr Hood defended the flyer’s messaging but conceded an error had been made when the image of the flag was chosen.
“That was caused unfortunately by a mislabelled image from a stock image provider but nevertheless we certainly accept responsibility for the error,” he said.
“While regrettable we still think the message is correct. A number of Labor parliamentarians have attended Palestinian processes (sic) after the terrible October 7 terrorist attacks, and we make the point that the people of the electorates, most especially Ngadjuri, should know their candidates’ views.
“Over 60 per cent of South Australians did vote against the federal Voice and yet the government here in South Australia still pressed ahead with their state Voice.”
Labor MP and campaign spokesperson Blair Boyer said it appeared that the Liberals “didn’t bother to actually check whether or not the flag they were using was the right flag”.
“It’s totally up to the South Australian Liberal Party if they want to go in for those kinds of grubby attacks,” he said.
“But … I reckon if you’re going to put something out like that, at least make sure you’re using the right flag.
“I don’t think that speaks to a party which is going to get the basic things and the important things right.”
Leader regrets mistake, defends message
Opposition leader Ashton Hurn said she had not “seen the specifics” but conceded an error had been made.
“It sounds like that was a very simple but regrettable mistake. There’s a lot of campaign material that goes out and sometimes mistakes do happen,” she said.
“But also, voters need to have a strong understanding about how people view a whole host of issues.”
A Palestinian flag flying at Parliament House. (ABC News: Monte Bovill)
On his Facebook page, Mr Piccolo has expressed sympathy for the Palestinian people, and in a 2024 speech to parliament he condemned both the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, and the Israeli military’s response to it.
“The conflict between Israel and Palestine continues to be unresolved, resulting in the loss of innocent lives, most recently the 1,200 Israeli lives taken by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and the over 40,000 lives taken by the State of Israel since that date, and more recently the killing of over 3,700 Lebanese people,” he said in November 2024.
“The world community has rightly condemned both Hamas and the State of Israel for the indiscriminate killing of civilians.
“Pro-Palestinian advocacy, when based on humanitarian norms, should not be interpreted as anti-Semitism and used to shut down legitimate debate about Israel’s response.”
According to the federal Liberal website, the party opposes the federal government’s decision “to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state”, and states that “there should be no recognition of a Palestinian state” until the defeat of Hamas.
But the position statement, released in August last year, also asserts the party is committed to the eventual delivery of a two-state solution.
“Ending this war is the only way to save lives and safeguard a two-state solution,” the party’s website states.
Corflutes ‘not Labor-branded’, Liberals say
The Liberals have also accused Labor of not making clear Mr Piccolo’s party affiliation, saying his corflutes were “not Labor-branded” and had “no red on them whatsoever”.
That suggestion was rejected by Labor, who said Mr Piccolo had not “hidden that at all”.
“Tony Piccolo’s been in the South Australian parliament I think since 2006,” Mr Boyer said.
“I don’t think there’s anyone out there who would seriously suggest that people don’t know that Tony Piccolo is a Labor member of parliament.”
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