Greens strategist’s cheeky jab at ex MAFS star’s battle to unseat party leader Adam Bandt in Melbourne

A Greens strategist has hit out at the decision of a former Married At First Sight villain’s decision to run against party leader Adam Bandt in his seat of Melbourne, landing a cheeky jab at the ex-reality TV star’s “commitment” to the cause. Earlier this week, 2024 participant Timothy Smith, who had a failed televised marriage with Byron Bay marriage celebrant Lucinda Light, took to Instagram to announce his official tilt at the seat, confirming he had hired a campaign manager. “Look, I’ve officially thrown my hat into the ring to run for Minister of parliament for the City of Melbourne (sic) for the upcoming federal election,” he said, in a video shared with his 218,000 followers. Notably, MPs are members of parliament, not ministers, and Mr Bandt is the MP of the federal seat of Melbourne. The City of Melbourne is a local council which takes in the city’s CBD. Although Mr Smith’s, who has previously admitted to facing a year’s jail time for attempting to smuggle marijuana from Canada to the US 17 years ago, announcement video was light on policy, he told fans it was time for “a change”. “Had to get this out there. Look, let’s make a change. The time is now I’ve got some more stuff to put out there,” he said. “I believe that we can make a change timing has never been better to make a change so together let’s do it.” However a Greens strategist questioned Mr Smith’s foray into politics. Apart from his stint on reality TV, the former MAFS groom also lists himself as an entrepreneur, content creator and amateur helicopter pilot on his Instagram bio. “Usually people make up their minds why they’re running for parliament before they make the announcement, which makes you wonder how committed he’s going to be,” the insider said. “While (Mr Smith) spent the entire announcement talking about himself and griping about the media, we’ve been spending this month talking about helping parents get their kids to public school with an $800 back to school payment, building homes to fix the housing crisis and stopping new coal and gas mines to stop the climate crisis.” Mr Smith’s announcements follows reports from the Herald Sun that former Carlton star Anthony Koutoufides will also launch his campaign for the Greens’ heartland seat over the Australia Day long weekend. However, Mr Bandt said he was up for the challenge. “I never take the seat of Melbourne for granted and will campaign hard whoever runs,” he said. “I’ll be fighting to get dental into Medicare for everyone, wipe student debt, fix the housing and rental crisis and make public school genuinely free so parents don’t need to fork out thousands each year.” The Melbourne MP has held the seat of Melbourne since 2010, and holds it on a safe 10.2 per cent, and said he was “proud to run on my record of getting dental into Medicare for kids, securing workers the right to disconnect, strong climate action and winning billions in funding for public and community homes”. “After more than a decade serving the people of Melbourne, I know that being a good elected representative needs to be a two-way relationship: you have to put in the hard work, listen, and make sure you’re there for people when they need you,” he said. “Right now, people are struggling with the cost of living and housing crisis, and are fed up with a government that’s only got bandaid solutions.”