Liberal candidate for the seat of Lyons in Tasmania, Jessica Whelan, has been dumped by the party a day after a series of anti-Muslim social media posts under her name were discovered.
Whelan’s alleged social media history was brought up on Thursday after a collection of anti-Muslim comments made by a Facebook account in her name were surfaced.
At a press event yesterday with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Whelan denied responsibility for one of the posts and suggested the screenshot had been altered – leading Morrison to say the matter had been referred to the Federal Police.
However, more posts emerged overnight, and Liberal campaign spokesman Simon Birmingham confirmed Whelan would be disendorsed on Friday.
These are the new Facebook posts to emerge bearing Jessica Whelan’s name. She had previously denied an anti-Muslim post suggesting it was doctored https://t.co/yof4LqmuVI pic.twitter.com/8DlI1nkj7B
— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) May 2, 2019
“More information has come to light overnight and as a result of that the state executive of the Liberal Party in Tasmania will be taking steps to deal with this candidate and the situation today,” he told Channel Nine.
Sky News reported on Friday morning that the Federal Police had not yet received a referral about Whelan’s alleged social media history.
It seems the AFP has still not received a referral about the allegedly fake comments attributed to Jessica Whelan.
”The AFP is aware of media reporting in relation to the matter,” a spokesperson says, when asked this AM. @SkyNewsAust— James O’Doherty (@jmodoh) May 2, 2019
Whelan now joins a host of political candidates on all sides of politics who are being forced to step down due to their social media history.
Labor is facing pressure for its candidate in Melbourne, Luke Creasey, after a rape joke he made on Facebook was surfaced, and the Liberal Party’s Jeremy Hearn was turfed after Islamophobic comments he made online were reported by the Herald Sun earlier this week.
