Kate Hook volunteer ‘counselled’ after vandalising sign spruiking Nationals rival Sam Farraway

A volunteer for an independent federal election candidate has been captured vandalising a rival candidate’s campaign materials in the state’s central west, in an ugly escalation of the gutter politics plaguing the upcoming poll.

A volunteer for a Climate 200-backed federal election candidate has been captured on video vandalising a rival candidate’s campaign materials in country NSW, in an ugly escalation of the gutter politics plaguing the upcoming poll.

In a social media post, the Nationals candidate for Calare, Sam Farraway, uploaded a series of images that feature a white dual-cab ute towing a campaign sign for independent candidate Kate Hook, who has the support of environmental political donor group Climate 200.

The post also includes a video of a man stepping out of the “same car” before he approaches a campaign sign and lingers in front of it, just out of the camera’s shot, for several seconds.

The footage, taken about 1am on Saturday morning, then shows the man returning to the vehicle and peeling away in the direction from which it came.

A volunteer for Climate 200-backed candidate, Kate Hook, was caught on video allegedly vandalising a rival’s sign. Picture: Supplied

NSW Police have confirmed that officers from Central West Police District are investigating “following reports multiple political posters were vandalised” and have asked for assistance with inquiries.

Mr Farraway told The Daily Telegraph the incident was disappointing.

NSW Police confirmed they were investigating the incident. Picture: Supplied

“I suspect that our campaign has sustained the most graffiti, the most signs stolen and also damaged,” Mr Farraway said.

“I don’t like pointing fingers unless you know exactly who it is. Talking about signs means you’re not talking about issues that face everyday voters and Australians in this election,

“To see almost all our signage defaced across two major regional cities – Bathurst and Orange – overnight, it was really disappointing.

“We got paint thinner and we cleaned up our own signs. They’re damaged, and you can tell that they’ve been defaced but we got on with it.”

A vandalised Sam Farraway sign. Picture: Supplied

“We also phoned (Ms Hook) last night and said we can prove that this is happening, we know it’s happening, we want it to stop … she couldn’t even be bothered to ring us back.”

Ms Hook is one of 10 New South Wales-based independent candidates running with the backing of Climate200, which funds campaigns with progressive climate and gender equality-related policies.

A spokesman for Ms Hook confirmed the involvement of the unnamed volunteer in a statement to The Daily Telegraph.

“We’ve been made aware overnight that an individual supporter of our campaign did the wrong thing,” the spokesman said.

“Our campaign has counselled that individual and they have agreed to cease volunteering.

Kate Hook, has also been the target of election-related vandalism.

“The Kate Hook campaign urges all candidates and volunteers to engage in a respectful and positive campaign.

“All candidates in Calare have experienced posters being vandalised or damaged and we’ve been crystal clear that graffiti or damage to election posters is unacceptable and is to be condemned in the strongest terms.”

Last week, Ms Hook was one of several female Calare candidates whose campaign posters were violently defaced.

One corflute displaying her headshot was torn from a fence in Orange and speared through the head with a trio of metal fence posts.