Was the Ben Walsh Facebook post about refusing Serco a hoax?

Lefties have been all asquitter on Twitter about a Facebook post from a coupla days back. It purported to be by some guy called Ben Walsh.

In it he said that he worked for one of Victoria's biggest fencing companies. Apparently an order from Serco for fencing mesh came in. Ben twigged the material would be used in a detention centre. He objected to the sale and told his boss, who agreed with his stand. So Ben called Serco back and refused the sale. Some time later the Serco bloke rang again pleading for them to reconsider because he'd been given similar treatment elsewhere.

You can read it here: Post by Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC).

Lefty cartoonist First Dog on the Moon used the text in a strip that was shared on Twitter and retweeted by Scott Ludlam and others.

We all need to be a little like Ingrid the Grapefruit RT @SenatorLudlam:and @firstdogonmoon has done it again pic.twitter.com/F8lXHJDgLK #auspol
— Peter Tonoli (@peter_tonoli) February 26, 2014

Some tweeps have pondered whether the cartoon came first and the FB post was mocked up afterwards. But it seems likely the FB post was inspiration for the cartoon and not the other way around.

Not surprisingly some lefty tweeps have taken the post as dinkum and touted Ben as a hero for his actions. Others were not completely convinced but hoped it was real.

I'm pretty sure it's a hoax, and felt that way when I first read it last night. Firstly, most people just wouldn't take that stand at work. They'd be out of a job quick smart.

It wouldn't happen at one business let alone several, regardless of the political beliefs of employees (and employers for that matter). Business is about sales, not politics.

Anyway, there's no real popular groundswell of support for the green-left position on asylum seekers. If anything it's the opposite.

Also, I couldn't find the original post, or this Ben Walsh character on the social network.

I think maybe he's real and wished it to happen then wrote it as if it did. Then he freaked out when it went viral and increased his privacy settings. Or it was an outright hoax to start with.

The whole post is about having the courage of your convictions, right? So if it were dinkum he'd be glad about the exposure and jump at the chance to publicly proclaim its validity wouldn't he?

Another case of the Left being duped, I reckon ...

UPDATE: Tweet claims it was a hoax with pic of new Ben Walsh post in which he admits to deception. But that's clearly a hoax itself.

labor troll Ben Walsh confesses about faking a major post is this the new Labor we expect to see #pmlive #auspol pic.twitter.com/zh01qUsuIH
— Miney (@BigMiney) February 26, 2014

Duelling dupers? Or all concocted by this one guy?

UPDATE: This tweet linking to an image of a post infers that Ben Walsh is a real guy, Ben Smith.