Sign of the times: Dirty politics at play in Victoria

The Teals stole a Liberal candidate’s sign, now the Coalition has been accused of stealing a Labor MP’s corflute in another key marginal Victorian seat as dirty politics distracts from the real issues.

The Liberal Party has been accused of stealing Labor’s election posters in a key marginal seat, just days after the Monique Ryan sign theft scandal.

Labor’s candidate in Aston, Mary Doyle, took to social media to call out the “cowards” who had allegedly been removing her campaign posters.

But the Liberals have fired back at the “baseless accusation”, claiming they have had at least 50 signs damaged across Aston.

In the video, Ms Doyle – who holds the outer eastern suburbs seat on a 3.6 per cent margin – alleged that her competitors were behind the disappearing signs.

“This is the work of my opponents and it says more about them and what they represent than anything else,” she said.

“I want to warn them that police are on watch and if caught, they will have criminal records.

“I’m not going to be deterred by the work of these cowards. It’ll only make me and my team work harder than ever.”

Aston MP Mary Doyle has accused the Liberal Party of stealing her promotional signs. Picture: Dylan Robinson

It’s unclear who is behind the removal of Ms Doyle’s signs in Aston, which encompasses the suburbs of Wantirna, Boronia, Bayswater, Ferntree Gully, Rowville, The Basin and parts of Ringwood and Lysterfield.

The Liberal Party’s candidate in Aston is Manny Cicchiello, a deputy principal who stood in the federal seat of Bruce in 2013.

A Labor campaign spokesman said the Liberal Party had questions to answer over the alleged sign thefts.

“We all know Manny Cicchiello was the beneficiary of the infamous Lobster with a Mobster fundraising dinner – but would his team go so low as to steal another candidate’s sign?” he said.

Teal MP Monique Ryan’s husband Peter Jordan stealing an Amelia Hamer poster.

Mr Jordan later apologised saying taking running off with the sign was ‘a mistake’.

“Given the standard set by the Liberals in Kooyong, he needs to rule out his or anyone in his campaign’s involvement in this act.”

A Liberal Party spokesman fired back, saying: “Labor might want to worry about its own backyard rather than throw baseless accusations around, considering we have had no less than 50 signs in Aston damaged, graffitied or torn down.”

It comes just days after the husband of Teal MP Monique Ryan was forced to apologise after he was caught on camera pulling down a Liberal competitor’s poster.

Peter Jordan claimed the poster of Liberal candidate for Kooyong, Amelia Hamer, had been illegally put up and he was in his right to remove it.

But hours after the footage emerged online, Mr Jordan was forced into an embarrassing backflip, conceding it was a “mistake” to tear the sign down.

Ms Hamer took a cheeky dig at her rival, by placing a second sign next to the original poster with the words “Monique, please DO NOT take this sign!”.