One of the most unlikely political pairings in recent memory are about to take their romance public with a joint appearance at the Midwinter Ball in Canberra.
Though Victorian state MP Georgie Purcell and federal MP Josh Burns are both from left wing parties – Animal Justice Party (AJP) and Labor, respectively – their opposing views on the Middle East have raised many eyebrows.
Mr Burns, 37, is Jewish, a Zionist and a very prominent supporter of Israel, while Ms Purcell, 31, is a pro-Palestinian activist who is regularly seen at protest marches.
Their appearance at the ball is designed to put an end to what they say has been weeks of ‘harmful gossip and speculation’ about their relationship.
Ms Purcell, a former stripper with multiple tattoos, has almost 200,000 followers on Instagram, where she regularly posts about Palestine.
Though the couple is now going public, including posting a selfie together, the AJP MP has asked for some privacy over her relationship with the rising Labor star.
‘I give more of myself to public life than most politicians, whether it be my past in sex work, my abortion experience or suffering from mental ill health – and it does take a toll,’ she told the Herald Sun.
‘Victorians have a right to judge my policies and my voting record, but all I ask is for some privacy in the parts of my personal life I choose not to share.’
It comes after Mr Burns’ St Kilda electoral office was set on fire and windows were smashed in what the MP called a ‘politically motivated attack’.
The walls of the building were covered in red paint and graffitied with a slogan reading ‘Zionism is fascism’. Zionism refers to the ideology that Jews deserve their own state in their ancestral homeland of Israel.
It came as the latest in a string of acts of vandalism targeting the offices of state and federal MPs in the wake of the conflict in Gaza.
But Mr Burns said he and Ms Purcell are able to find common ground on the issue, despite their seemingly distant viewpoints.
‘We agree on so much and we talk about the rest. I respect her and she respects me. We agree on what is important – we want peace and an end to the violence,’ he said.
Ms Purcell, who is the youngest woman in any n parliament and the second youngest ever to be elected to Victoria’s Legislative Council, recently posted on Instagram that she had ‘met someone special’ whom she ‘can’t stop thinking about’.
This has now been revealed to be Mr Burns.
The couple’s reference to ‘harmful gossip and speculation’ may be alluding to a thinly veiled account of the start of their romance that appeared in an advice column for the News Corp parenting website Kidspot last month.
A woman who identified herself as A Sydney Mum told the publication about a single dad she called ‘Joe’ whom she had been going out with.
‘Joe was very upfront about wanting to have another baby with me,’ she wrote. ‘We spoke and planned the merging of our families.
‘Just two nights prior we had gone out and talked about our plans for the future. He told me that he’d never been happier and that I was everything that he’d been wanting in a partner.’
Joe met her children after they’d first spoken with him on the phone, so the kids could get ‘familiar with his voice’.
But then, the women claimed Joe ghosted her and the relationship ended.
‘I was upset he’d led me on, but I was furious he’d led my kids on,’ she wrote.
The n reported that it had it on ‘impeccable authority’ that ‘Joe’ was a pseudonym for Josh Burns.
Daily Mail is not suggesting that Mr Burns is the man referred to as Joe.
Mr Burns has been contacted for comment.