Liberal Candidate Ben Britton, who opposed women in combat roles, has been removed

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The Coalition has removed a Liberal candidate for the NSW seat of Whitlam after he expressed controversial views, including that women should not serve in combat roles within the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Benjamin Britton was disendorsed by the party “over views expressed which were not previously disclosed and are inconsistent with the party’s position”, a Coalition Party spokesperson said in a statement to SBS News on Sunday.

Britton has been replaced as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Whitlam by Nathaniel Smith, the chief executive of the Master Plumbers Association of NSW. He was elected as the Liberal MP for the seat of Wollondilly in 2019, serving up until 2023.

Women’s ‘hips being destroyed’ from doing combat jobs, Britton says

On Friday, Guardian Australia reported that Britton had expressed multiple controversial views while appearing on podcasts.

Those included the unsubstantiated claim that women needed to be “removed from combat” roles to “fix our defence force”.

A man in a maroon blazer sitting at a desk, wearing headphones and speaking into a microphone.

Ben Britton made the comments about women in the defence force while appearing on a podcast last year. Source: YouTube / Joel Jammal

“[Women’s] hips are being destroyed because they can’t cope with the carrying of the heavy loads and the heavy impacts that’s required from doing combat-related jobs,” Britton said while appearing on a podcast hosted by right-wing commentator Joel Jammal in July last year.

Britton said he had served with “tremendous” women in the ADF but that their recruitment into combat roles was wrong.

Britton has also claimed during podcast appearances that Australia’s education system had “brainwashed” and “indoctrinated” young Australians with Marxist ideologies, and said exposure to pornography leads to “transgender desires”.

Britton unsuccessfully ran for the United Australia Party at the last federal election in 2022.

The NSW Liberal website had described him as an “Australian Army veteran and cyber security expert”. He has since been removed from the website.

In January this year, Coalition leader Peter Dutton posted photos of himself alongside Britton on social media.

In the post’s caption, Dutton had described Britton as an “outstanding candidate” who was “working hard in his community” and drawing on his background as a veteran.

Peter Dutton and Benjamin Britton, both wearing white shirts and blazers, standing next to each other outside.

In January, Opposition leader Peter Dutton described Benjamin Britton as an “outstanding candidate”. Source: Instagram / @peterduttonmp

Britton was running for retiring Stephen Jones’ seat

The electoral division of Whitlam covers parts of southern Illawarra and the Southern Highlands. Formerly known as Throsby, it has been held by Labor MP Stephen Jones since the 2010 federal election.

Jones, who is also the assistant Treasurer and minister for financial services, in January this year.

Carol Berry replaces him as Labor’s candidate in the 2025 federal election.

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