Ex-Lyons Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan has admitted that she didn't detail the full extent of her controversial social media activity to the Liberal Party's state executive prior to being preselected.
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Ms Whelan, a Brighton councillor, was disendorsed as the Lyons Liberal candidate on Friday, after a series of Islamophobic online comments she'd made in the past were brought to light earlier in the week.
She is now running as an independent candidate in the electorate.
One particular post that's been attributed to Ms Whelan, in which she appears to suggest American feminists who supported Sharia law should have their genitalia mutilated and then be sold to "Muslims in Muslim countries", has been referred to the Australian Federal Police. This is due to Ms Whelan strenuously denying ever making the post.
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Ms Whelan told The Examiner on Saturday night that she had had a discussion "around about the time of preselection" with Liberal Party state director Sam McQuestin regarding her past social media posts
"I can't remember if it was before or after [preselection] [but] I had a social media discussion with Sam McQuestin," she said.
"Did I point out to him that there could have been posts that might have come into question? No, I did not.
"Did I point out any of the posts that have been raised in the media? No, I did not."
Ms Whelan said the reason she didn't raise either of these points was because she didn't think there was "anything to talk about".
"I'd made the comment to Sam that I'd been quite prominent on social media, voicing my opinion," she said.
"I mentioned that I had previously posted on some of the Labor members' Facebook pages.
"Nothing inflammatory, just calling them out on Labor lies and questioning the evidence of some of the things they would post, that sort of stuff."
Ms Whelan said she was not feeling safe after she and her children had received death threats in the wake of the scandal that spelled the end of her Liberal candidacy. But she added that she wasn't feeling safe on the campaign trail even before her posts had received publicity.
"I sat on pre-poll last week and I was confronted with abuse," she said. "I had people telling me the most horrendous threats then. And that stemmed from absolutely nothing."
"These are Labor tactics. I was warned about them but I didn't realise they were this nasty."
Liberal Party state director Sam McQuestin said on Saturday that the first time the party had become aware of Ms Whelan's online comments was when it was contacted by the media.
These are Labor tactics. I was warned about them but I didn't realise they were this nasty.
- Jessica Whelan
Prime Minister Scott Morrison noted at a media conference on Friday that Ms Whelan's previous "views" were not disclosed to the party, saying he'd been lied to.
"The information in front of us yesterday was not the information that we were able to receive overnight," he said.
Franklin Labor MHR Julie Collins said it was not surprising that the Liberals would "endorse a candidate to represent the party knowing she held racist views".
"The comments the disendorsed Liberal candidate made on the social media page of the Tasmanian Opposition Leader's page were vile and unacceptable," Ms Collins said in a statement.
The Liberals are now urging Lyons voters to throw their support behind Nationals candidate Deanna Hutchinson.