One of the Liberal Party’s Victorian candidates has stepped down after his public Facebook comments disputing the experience of an alleged rape survivor resurfaced.
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Gurpal Singh, who was set to contest the Division of Scullin in the House of Representatives at the upcoming election, was officially disendorsed by the party overnight.
“Based on new information that has come to light, Mr Gurpal Singh has been asked to resign as the candidate for Scullin,” a spokesperson for the party’s Victorian branch told The Age.
“Mr Singh sincerely apologises for his previous comments and has tendered his resignation.”
The comments in question were left on a Facebook post made by SBS, which contained a link to an article entitled ‘I married my rapist’.
“I totally disagree with the allegation of rape,” Singh wrote.
He went on to say he had “no sympathy” for the accuser, and that her statement “brings bad name to whole community.”
Earlier, Singh faced scrutiny for comparing homosexuality to paedophilia in an SBS radio interview during the 2017 same-sex marriage debate.
Despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison criticising the Labor Party for its handling of a candidate who posted rape jokes on Facebook in years past, the Coalition leader this week said “the [Singh] matter was dealt with by the party.”
“Dealt with by the party” meant Singh’s candidacy continued. Until last night, that is.
Singh is the latest of several election hopefuls to be disendorsed by their party after the reemergence of questionable comments posted on social media.
If you would like to talk to a counsellor about rape, sexual assault or domestic violence, give the people over at 1800 RESPECT a call on 1800 737 732.
