MP Andrew Hastie says he never met far-Right activist Neil Erikson

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie is “confident” he never met far-Right activist Neil Erikson, ­despite a colleague saying they had a “brief” encounter.

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie is “confident” he never met far-Right activist Neil Erikson, ­despite a colleague saying they had a “brief” encounter.

Western Australian Liberal MP Ian Goodenough yesterday said he and Mr Hastie had met the United Patriots Front founder at a rally in Perth in April last year.

Mr Erikson originally made claims about the ­encounter in an online video earlier this year, before the Liberal Party asked Google to remove the content.

Mr Hastie, the Liberal member for the West Australian seat of Canning, said last night he had “never sought to nor agreed to meet with Mr ­Erikson” at the rally for white South African farmers.

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Liberal member for Canning Andrew Hastie at a press conference in Mandurah.

“I’m confident that I did not encounter him on the day. I find his views abhorrent and his views should not be given a platform,” Mr Hastie said.

“There were false and ­defamatory claims made in an online video posted by Mr ­Erikson which I totally reject. This video has since been ­removed by Google and I thank them for this.”

Mr Hastie last night posted verses from Rudyard Kipling’s famed poem If on his social media account: “Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies. Or being hated, don’t give way to hating.”

Mr Goodenough said he and Mr Hastie did meet Mr ­Erikson, saying: “A guy whose identity we did not know at the time who was dressed like a rapper approached me from the crowd with followers ­carrying a video camera.

“We had a brief encounter but did not discuss or agree to anything,” he said.

“As politicians it is usual for strangers to approach us. We did not have a meeting.”

Far right wing activists Neil Erikson at a rally in St Kilda.

Asked two weeks ago whether the two MPs had ever met Mr Erikson, a spokeswoman for Liberal Party said: “The claims made in the video are completely false, and Google promptly removed the ­offensive and defamatory content from their platforms”.

Asked yesterday at a press conference whether he had ever met Mr Erikson, Mr Hastie said he would not answer “defamatory questions”.

Mr Erikson told the Herald Sun he met the Liberal MPs at the rally for South African farmers.

Asked why the Liberals were denying the encounter occurred, Mr Erikson said the party “probably doesn’t want it getting out”.

Mr Erikson was convicted of inciting contempt for Muslims after staging a mock beheading to protest against plans to build a mosque in Bendigo. Along with two other members of the UPF, he was fined $2000.

Mr Erikson was also one of the men who tackled teenager Will Connolly after he cracked an egg over Queensland senator Fraser Anning’s head at a press conference in Melbourne in March.

That incident followed comments made by the senator blaming Muslims for the terror attacks in New Zealand.

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