Mr Nikolic took offence to a story, adapted from satirical news website The Onion, which lampooned him for ``claiming he was heroically killed in action during service in Afghanistan''.

The story says he also claimed to have suffered ``a slow, painful death by torture at the hands of Tamil militants in 2002'' and has Bass MHR Labor Geoff Lyons questioning how his opponent could have been killed in Iraq when he saw him handing out balloons at Agfest.

The story appeared on a Facebook page run anonymously on Thursday.

In a comment in response, Mr Nikolic listed the 13 people who `liked' the story and where they work and sent the same message as a private message to each of those listed.

He also threatened to send ``formal letters of complaint'' to their employers and posted a statement on his website upset that people had joked about his death and again listing the people who `liked' it.

Rod Mason was one of the Facebook users listed and said Mr Nikolic's response was a ``massive overreaction''.

``It reflects poorly on his respect for the rights of others,'' Mr Mason said.

Another person listed in the message said she felt Mr Nikolic was trying to intimidate her and called on him to apologise.

Mr Nikolic did not respond to The Examiner's request for comment yesterday, but took to Facebook to respond.

``As those who know me well understand, I feel very strongly about misguided attempts at humour when they relate to military service,'' Mr Nikolic wrote.

``My reaction was driven by what I consider to be a very personal attack on me, my military record, and the impact on a close family member who alerted me to the post.''

Tasmanian Liberal Party president Sam McQuestin defended Mr Nikolic. ``The activities that were being undertaken by others on Facebook was distasteful particularly as he is the father of a member serving in the Australian Army,'' Mr McQuestin said.

A complaint to the Australian Press Council about this subject was upheld. Read the full adjudication here.