Liberal candidate says women should not serve in ADF combat roles amid range of controversial views

Benjamin Britton, standing in the seat of Whitlam, told a right-wing podcast Australia’s education system ‘brainwashed’ students with Marxist ideology, and praised Isle of Man flat tax

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The Liberal candidate for the NSW seat of Whitlam expressed a string of controversial views on fringe podcasts before his preselection, including the claim that women should not serve in combat positions with the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Benjamin Britton, who has been praised by Peter Dutton as an “outstanding candidate”, ran unsuccessfully for the United Australia Party at the 2022 federal election. He has since claimed “diversity and equity quotas, Marxist ideology and woke ideologies” have weakened the country’s defences, singling out a 2013 change allowing women to be recruited into frontline combat positions.

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Exposure to pornography leads to gender dysphoria and “transgender desires”;

Labor intentionally keeps some electorates poor to have a better chance of winning them;

Australia should “look at the Isle of Man” for lessons on introducing a flat tax rate to attract billionaires;

The education system has “brainwashed” young Australians with Marxist ideology.