‘Inexperienced’ staffer to blame for Independent Calare MP Andrew Gee’s social media blunder

An independent federal MP is at the centre of an embarrassing social media blunder after one of his campaign staffers attempted to impersonate a constituent, but replied to the politician's Facebook post from his own account.

An independent federal MP is at the centre of an embarrassing social media blunder after one of his campaign staffers attempted to impersonate a constituent on a Facebook post calling out the National Party for “dirty, grubby” campaign tactics.

The gaffe comes after Andrew Gee, an Independent MP for Calare in the NSW Central West, posted a statement on Friday accusing the Nationals of calling elderly constituents and spreading “blatant lies about who I was going to preference in this election”.

In the since deleted comment, Mr Gee appeared to reply to his own post impersonating a constituent, thanking himself for being the “good guy” compared to the Nationals and the “Teal mob”.

“Thank you Andrew Gee MP I am new to the area and have received texts from the Nationals and seen nasty ads in the paper from the Teal mob, it has helped me see who is the good guy,” the comment read.

A spokesman for Mr Gee later clarified the post was made without his knowledge by a new campaign staffer who had access to his social media account.

Calare MP Andrew Gee replied to his own Facebook post.

“The comment was posted without Mr Gee’s knowledge by a new and inexperienced member of the campaign team who had access to the page, and knows it was an extremely disappointing and unacceptable thing to do and which Mr Gee does not condone, approve of or support under any circumstances,” the spokesman said.

“The team member has expressed genuine remorse and distress, their duties have now been modified so it won’t happen again and we’re providing appropriate levels of care and support.”

Mr Gee has been contacted for comment. Martin Ollman/Getty Images

Despite later deleting the comment, Mr Gee has kept the original post online declaring his intention to “call out every single dirty, grubby tactic in this campaign”.

“It’s day one and the dirty tactics have already started,” the post read.

“This afternoon a constituent contacted my office who told us she had been cold-called by a person who identified himself as someone from the National Party and who then told blatant lies about who I was going to preference in this election.

“I have not made any decisions about who I’m going to preference. It’s even possible I may not preference anyone. The field of candidates isn’t even set.”

Me Gee was elected in 2016 as a member of the National Party – serving as the former minister for veteran affairs – before he resigned and turned independent in 2022 due to the party’s opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

A Nationals’ campaign spokesman said the incident raised questions about the other tactics Mr Gee and his team were using this election.

Hume MP Angus Taylor was caught impersonating a constituent on his social media in 2019.

Despite the social media misstep, Mr Gee’s post was flooded with comments from what appeared to be genuine constituents thanking him and wishing him good luck in the upcoming election.

However, the blunder is not the first time a politician or their team have been caught red-handed spruiking online.

In 2019, Opposition treasury spokesman and former energy minister Angus Taylor replied to his own Facebook post congratulating himself for announcing new car parks across his Hume electorate, writing: “Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus”.

The comment was quickly deleted by his team, and reportedly blamed on Mr Taylor or his social media advisers switching between multiple accounts.