Ballarat environmental grant cut amid alleged antisemitism claims

A major regional council has allegedly succumbed to pressure from a climate change-denying councillor to strip an environmental group of a $285,000 grant.

The ABC understands that Councillor Ted Lapkin — a former Israeli Defence Force soldier — lobbied the City of Ballarat executive team to give Ballarat Renewable Energy and Zero Emissions (BREAZE) an ultimatum: axe board member Mary Debrett over allegedly antisemitic social media content or lose council funding for net zero projects.

One week later, both Ms Debrett and the grant were gone.

Ms Debrett, who denied the allegations of antisemitism, said she and the volunteer-run organisation were the target of an orchestrated campaign by a councillor she “would not name” for legal reasons.

The ABC understands that councillor to be Cr Lapkin.

“I’m frightened, I’ve been intimidated,” Ms Debrett said.

In a statement to the ABC, Cr Lapkin said he stood by his personal view that Ms Debrett’s content was “behaviour worthy only of contempt”.

“If the ABC doesn’t consider blatant anti-Jewish bigotry to be disreputable, that’s a matter for our taxpayer-funded broadcaster,” he said.

In a statement to the ABC, the council’s director of infrastructure and environment, Bridget Wetherall, said any conduct brought to council’s attention was taken “seriously and investigated”. 

Lapkin comments

Cr Lapkin grew up in Israel and did mandatory military service with the IDF as a “combat-intelligence officer”.

He was elected to the council last October, has past affiliations with the Australian Jewish Association and Zionist Federation of Australia, and has published numerous op-eds equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

Cr Lapkin is also on record denying the existence of climate change, attacking Greens policy as “immoral and dangerous”, and calling BREAZE “radical activists” who tout “progressive climate orthodoxy”.

During a council meeting on December 11, 2024, Cr Lapkin accused the organisation of biting the hand that feeds it, and said BREAZE should “pay its own way”.

Debrett comments

On February 12, BREAZE president Peta Guy met with Ms Wetherall at a local cafe for a “business-as-usual” meeting.

Ms Guy said as the meeting drew to a close, she was presented with four A4 pieces of “barely legible” paper containing a series of retweets and thread comments made by Ms Debrett on X.

Those thread comments from Ms Debrett included the line “Israel is a stain on the planet” and a statement tagging Foreign Minister Penny Wong that said the IDF continued to “dehumanise and torment people of Gaza in similar style to the way Nazis dehumanised Jews during the holocaust”.

The tweets that prompted Ms Debrett’s comments were not included in the document.

Ms Debrett, whose X account has since been wiped, told the ABC she had been responding to posts about the “genocide committed by the Israeli government” in Gaza.

“I was watching the live streaming of the obliteration of Gazan infrastructure and civilians, people pleading into the camera or via written comments and asking, ‘Can you see me? Are you watching? Please don’t look away. Please comment,'” she said.

“It was really hard not to look away, but I chose to watch in deference … and be a voice against this genocide.”

One-week ultimatum

On February 14, two days after the cafe meeting, Ms Wetherall allegedly phoned Ms Guy with an ultimatum: Ms Debrett was off the BREAZE board or council would terminate the grant.

A snap BREAZE board meeting was called and Ms Guy said it was decided the board had “no reason” and “no power” to dismiss Ms Debrett.

On February 20, Ms Debrett, who “vehemently denied the allegations”, stepped down from the board because she “did not wish BREAZE to lose funding”.

Despite her resignation, council formally terminated BREAZE funding that same day.

This was communicated via an email from Ms Wetherall that stated Ms Debrett’s conduct on X risked damaging the image and reputation of council and was therefore just cause for termination.

BREAZE was ordered to pay back any funding it had already received.

In a statement, Ms Wetherall said the council’s decision was a “regrettable” but “necessary action”.

“Our assessment of these posts determined that by association they may harm or risk harming the reputation of council or Ballarat as a destination as per a clause in the City Partnerships Program agreement,” she said.

Council leak

The ABC understands that Ballarat councillors were not briefed about the allegations or council’s decision to act on them until the day before BREAZE funding was axed.

That exception was Cr Lapkin, who the ABC understands scraped the allegedly antisemitic content from Ms Debrett’s social media account, presented it to council executives, and pressured them to act on it.

It is also alleged the story was leaked to media before Ms Debrett or BREAZE had an opportunity to respond.

BREAZE told the ABC it received a request for comment from the Herald Sun newspaper three hours after council sent it notice of termination.

The organisation has since filed a formal complaint to council about leaking “privileged and confidential” information.

This was BREAZE’s second complaint to council — the first related to allegations of “misinformation” and “defamatory comments” by Cr Lapkin in December.

Council did not comment on either complaint.

Ms Debrett questioned council’s precedent for interrogating the online profiles of its partner community organisations.

“How much time does council staff devote to this task and what triggers that kind of process?”