Questions raised over Labor candidate Lauren O’Dwyer’s First Nations ancestry claim
Daniel Andrews has defended a Labor candidate’s decision to identify as an Indigenous Australian, despite her own family rejecting her ancestry claims.
State Election
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Premier Daniel Andrews has defended a Labor candidate’s decision to identify as an Indigenous Australian, despite her family denying any ancestry.
Labor candidate for Richmond Lauren O’Dwyer has previously described herself as a “proud Yorta Yorta woman”.
But a relative of Ms O’Dwyer said the family has never identified as Indigenous and doesn’t have any Aboriginal ancestry.
Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation also said the Labor candidate failed to follow cultural protocol and consult with elders.
“She has been very, very clear about who she is and where she comes from,” Mr Andrews said on Monday.
“I think that cultural identity is a very complex thing.
“These (cultural) issues can often be contested and there can often be differences of view and opinion.
“Lauren has made statements and I would direct you to those since I’m not going to speak to her – that’s not appropriate.”
War of words as state election edges closer
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has accused Daniel Andrews of desperation after the premier alleged the Coalition had partnered with extremists.
The last week of the campaign has kicked off with a bitter tit-for-tat on both sides, with Labor ramping up their claims the Liberals and Nationals were preferencing Nazis above the ALP.
This stems from the Liberals pledging to put the party last in most seats, including below more conservative groups such as One Nation or the anti-lockdown Freedom Party.
Just an hour after Deputy Liberal Leader David Southwick asked the party to show them examples of preferencing Nazis, both parties were revealed to have how-to-vote cards in Narre Warren South that listed a candidate who took a smiling selfie at Auschwitz as their fifth choice.
The man, named Tyler Baker-Pearce, also has a Twitter account filled with extreme and anti-Semitic views.
This prompted another clash, with Labor criticising the Liberals for putting this man above them on the ticket while the Coalition accused the ALP of hypocrisy.
Speaking on the campaign trail, Mr Andrews refused to apologise for using the term Nazi and accused the Coalition of partnering with extremists.
When asked about these comments, Mr Guy said the premier “needs to look in the mirror”.
“He said he doesn’t want to Americanise Victorian politics and then he comes out with the most extreme and desperate language I’ve seen from a Victorian premier just before the election,” he said.
“Desperate Daniel Andrews will say desperate things and now we’re seeing it, a desperate premier making desperate allegations.
“He’s preferencing this person number five on the how-to-vote card, so is the Liberal party.”
Dan refuses to back down on ‘offensive’ Nazi claim
Premier Daniel Andrews has refused to apologise for using the term ‘Nazi’ despite leading members of the Jewish community calling it offensive.
Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich called on both Mr Andrews and his deputy Jacinta Allan to apologise for using the “supercharged and insensitive term”.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Andrews said he has no intention of apologising.
“I’m not here to apologise for calling out extremists,” he said.
“The only people who ought to be apologising for their views, or their language, or their preferences, are these extremists.
“And the Liberal Party who are in a political partnership with them.”
The Premier also avoided questions on why Labor preferenced anti-Semitic candidate Tylere Baker-Pearce fifth on the voting ballot, ahead of the Liberal Democrats, Family First and the Freedom Party.
Mr Andrews instead pointed to Labor preferencing the Liberal candidate fourth, and the Liberal party preferencing the Labor candidate last.
“Those who would like to be considered the alternative government of our state are preferencing Labor at the end, behind extremists,” he said.
“They preach the very worst of American politics.
“There’s no place for it. There’s no place for the decisions that the Liberal Party have made.”
Dan called on to reveal ‘Nazi’ candidates
Deputy Liberal leader David Southwick has called on Daniel Andrews to reveal who he believes the “Nazi” candidates are this election, saying the Premier should “put up or shut up”.
“If there are Nazis running, we need to now about them and we need to deal with it,” he said on Monday.
It comes as both major parties have been caught out preferencing a candidate fifth on their ticket who posted a smiling selfie outside of Auschwitz.
Over the weekend both Daniel Andrews and Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan accused the Liberals of preferencing “Nazis” following a controversial speech by independent for the Angry Victorians Party Catherine Cumming at a “freedom rally” in the CBD.
Ms Allan was asked to specify which candidates she was talking about, but refused to answer.
She was called on by Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich to apologise for using the “supercharged and insensitive term”, but has not apologised.
On Monday, Labor MP for Macnamara, Josh Burns, took to Twitter to reveal the Liberals had preferenced seemingly anti-Semitic independent candidate for Narre Warren South, Tyler Baker-Pearce, fifth on their ticket, above Labor and the Greens.
The Liberals then tweeted to reveal that Labor had also preferenced the candidate fifth on their ticket, above the Liberal Democrats, Family First and the Freedom Party.
Mr Burns responded in the comments, saying “after your candidate”.
Mr Baker-Pearce’s Twitter account is filled with posts expressing his extremist and anti-Semitic views.
Mr Burns hit out at the Liberals on Twitter, saying their preferencing of Mr Baker-Pearce was “horrifying”.
“Matthew Guy, preferencing neo-Nazis over Labor. Just horrifying,” he wrote.
Dr Abramovich said Mr Baker-Pearce should be “denounced … condemned”.
“They should be pulled out.”
Mr Southwick said members of the Jewish community were contacting him saying they were “scared,” calling the language “hurtful”.
“To come out and use the term Nazi so loosely, is completely inappropriate. It’s desperate and it needs to stop,” he said.
“Enough is enough.”
Questioned as to whether the Liberals should be preferencing candidates with extreme views, such as Ms Cumming, the deputy Liberal leader said his party “don’t have much choice” if they want to beat Labor.
“There are a lot of extremists and a lot of people from all different parties. I’d prefer not to see them in parliament,” he said.
“We don’t have much choice in terms of who we’re preferencing … we’ve tried to put the government last because at the end of the day they’re our opposition.”
Dr Abramovich joined Mr Southwick this morning to call out the use of the word, putting pressure on the government to reveal who the Nazis are.
“If we are going to be using the term Nazis, we need to have clear evidence that there are Neo Nazis and white supremacists who are running for parliament,” he said.
“The public needs to know who they are. They are a threat to our way of life.”
Dr Abramovich said the Premier and Deputy Premier should commit to keeping Holocaust references are of the public debate.
“Let’s retire the Nazi analogies once and for all,” he said.
Senior Lib grilled on candidate call
Deputy Liberal Leader David Southwick has refused to confirm whether upper house candidate Renee Heath was dropped from the party room because she had lied to the party about her ties to a “cult-like” church.
“The information that I was presented to was, at the time, what I could rely on,” Mr Southwick said on Monday.
“All I can say is … different information has come to light and therefore the party has quite rightfully acted the way they should have.”
He refused to say whether Ms Heath had lied to the party about her associations with a network of ultra-consertive churches, including City Builders Church, where her father, Brian Heath, is the senior pastor.
“The information that was presented is different from the information that we first received and on that basis, the decision was made promptly to ensure that there were consequences,” he said.
Mr Southwick said that new information was on the depth of her associations to the City Builders Church.
A 60 Minutes expose on the church included allegations that Mr Heath had encouraged gay conversation therapy — an illegal practice in Victoria.
“It was pretty disturbing, I think, for all of us,” Mr Southwick said.
“And on that basis … the decision was made, and I think that just has no place.”
But he said everyone had a right to their religious views.
“Everybody has a right to their religious views, as long as they don’t impose that on others,” he said.
“I absolutely respect that in the Liberal Party. But the last thing that we need is people imposing their views on others and that’s what I would stand up against.”
In a statement on Sunday night, Ms Heath denied that she had ever imposed her views on others, calling the campaign against her “discriminatory”.
“I have never attempted to impose my religious views on others in the Liberal Party,” she said.
Mr Southwick said he didn’t think Victorians wanted to hear about the issue, saying the public discourse should be focused on the contest of ideas.
“We don’t need sideshows, we don’t need distractions,” he said.
Top scientist to drive state’s clean energy push
The Victorian government has revealed its expert panel appointed to resurrect the state electricity commission months after the election.
Liberals win last seat in Victorian election
The Liberal Party has finally claimed the electorate of Narracan two months after the state election, bringing the Coalition to one more seat than it held after 2018.