Greens candidate forced to apologise over ‘foolish’ disregard for dead police officers on social media
A NSW Greens candidate has been forced to apologise for encouraging violence against politicians and showing disregard for dead police officers on social media.
A NSW Greens candidate posted a vile image depicting Jesus in a sex act with the captions “i love easter traditions” last weekend during Greek Easter as pressure mounts on the left wing party to dump the candidate.
Connor Parissis, who is running in the inner west seat of Barton, was already forced to apologise this morning for encouraging violence and anti-Semitic posts.
The Greens labelled the earlier posts “foolish and harmful” but stood by their candidate who claimed to have made the offensive posts before being endorsed by the party.
However, The Daily Telegraph can now reveal Mr Parissis used a locked Twitter account with the handle @TheElginMarbles to post offensive images and even brag about stealing a plant from Kmart in the past two weeks.
He even shared a message from Greens official Paul Fitzgerald on Monday warning the candidate about his use of social media which Mr Parissis captioned “lol”.
“Connor, why say ‘yes’ to that tweet calling the Greens communists? It could hurt your campaign and the Greens in general I think. And it’s not true. Paul Fitzgerald,” the message states.
Mr Parissis had also posted a series of anti-Semitic images and openly promotes the use of illicit drugs in the past year.
He posted a picture on Facebook stating “who gives a flying fox about dead cops?” in December 2017 and in August last year posted “log off and grab a bat and head to ur (sic) local liberal office x”.
RELATED: Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan dumped
He also posted a photo of Melbourne teenager Will Connolly egging Senator Fraser Anning with the caption “egging fascists/racists/islamaphobes is GOOD and ENCOURAGED thank u (sic) for listening”.
In a statement Mr Parisissi said he apologises unreservedly for these comments and was “extremely sorry” for the offence they have caused.
“The Daily Telegraph has highlighted several social media posts from before I was a Greens member that appear to condone violence,” he said.
“I do not condone violence of any kind, and realise these comments are against the Greens principle of peace and nonviolence. This principle is incredibly important to me.”
But even since being endorsed as the Greens candidate Mr Parissis posted on his private Twitter account “can some1 in melb give me Drugs” followed by a tweet the next day “got stood up by a dealer so now I officially hate melb”.
Greens NSW campaign co-ordinator, Andrew Blake said: “We’ve spoken with Connor. He takes this very seriously and we accept the sincere apology he has made.
“He accepts that these statements do not accord with Greens values, and with our principles of peace and nonviolence.”
The Greens have been contacted for further comment on the latest posts.
It comes as the police have been called in to investigate the origin of derogatory online comments about Muslims purportedly made by a federal Liberal candidate in the Tasmanian seat of Lyons.
Jessica Whelan has denied she made the Facebook posts bearing her name in including one which says women who supported Islam should be mutilated and sold as slaves.
But Labor seized on the “extraordinarily racist comments” and called for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to step in and sack her.
After more screenshots emerged overnight, Liberal campaign spokesman Simon Birmingham confirmed Ms Whelan would be disendorsed today.
“I expect based on the information that has come to light overnight, the additional information, that she’ll not be continued to be Liberal candidate,” he told Nine’s Today Show.
“That will be a matter for the Tasmanian party to resolve swiftly this morning, but my understanding is they’re taking steps to do so.”
On Wednesday, two Liberal candidates were dumped over such posts — Jeremey Hearn for an anti-Islam rant and Peter Killin for homophobic remarks.
Labor has also been hit, with Senate candidate Wayne Kurnoth sacked after sharing anti-Semitic remarks, while Luke Creasey kept his place after apologising for posting a rape joke and pornography on Facebook in 2012.
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek ignored questions about Mr Creasey after speaking to reporters about Ms Whelan.
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