‘I would be a Nazi Party member’: University of Queensland LNP Club president writes, before being booted

AN ambitious young Queensland LNP member has been forced to make a hasty retreat after saying he would have joined the Nazi Party.

Kurt Tucker’s political ambitions have suffered a blow after he said he would have been a Nazi Party member in 1930s Germany.

AN ambitious young Queensland Liberal National Party member has been forced to make a hasty retreat from his leadership role after saying publicly he would have joined the Nazi Party in 1930s Germany.

The Young LNP scrambled to distance itself from Kurt Tucker, the leader of its University of Queensland chapter, after the politically ambitious student made a Facebook post saying he would have joined the Nazi Party if he had lived in 1930s Germany.

“I openly accept I would be a Nazi Party member if this was 30s Germany, despite obviously opposing a lot of their core ideology,” he wrote.

“I’m political, and to succeed in politics, public service military or even industry, you had to be a NSDAP member.

“I also believe 90% of ALP and LNP members would be the same.”

The Young Nationals Federal Campaigns Officer made a hasty retraction when his comments became public.

Apparently not. The following day both the Young LNP and the UQ Liberal National Club posted identical statements, indicating they could not distance themselves from Mr Tucker’s comments fast enough.

“Following his comments on Facebook that have since been reported in the media, Kurt Tucker has resigned as President of the UQ Liberal National Club and from Young LNP Management Committee,” the Young LNP posted.

“Kurt has since retracted the comments, apologised for any offence caused, taken full responsibility for his actions and we acknowledge this.

“For the record, the Young LNP rejects in full the assertions he made in his Facebook comment.”

Kurt Tucker’s social media profiles have been deleted in the wake of the controversy.

But while he jumped from his leadership positions, he still remains a member of the Young LNP.

Within a day, Mr Tucker had apparently seen the error of his ways.

“On reflection of my comments, I realise I was totally wrong. I find the Nazi party to be totally morally abhorrent and I would never willingly engage with them,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“The comment made was in response to a statement by another person that all young political party members would have joined the Nazi Party in the 1930s due to the fact that it was the only way to get ahead in the public sphere at the time. While I initially agreed ... I now realise how incorrect I was.”

The President of the University of Queensland Young LNP, Kurt Tucker, said in a social media post he would have been a Nazi Party member in 1930s Germany.

Less than a month ago, the young political aspirant was joyously revelling in a parliamentary victory by his party.

“I am exceptionally happy that the bills were withdrawn, and I’d be very happy if they don’t resurface in the parliament,” Tucker told BuzzFeed News, after the LNP effectively blocked abortion reform bills introduced by independent Rob Pyne, that were set to decriminalise the practice .

“They were withdrawn so that Pyne and [pro-choice deputy premier Jackie Trad] didn’t have to face the humiliation of it going down in flames in parliament.”

It’s not the first time Queensland’s Young LNP has been plagued by controversy, thanks to one of its members.

In 2013, past president Ben Riley drunkenly took a pair of RM Williams boots at the LNP State convention, before wearing them out on the town.

He was suspended from the party for six month but welcomed back into the fold a year later, triumphantly so, when he was elected federal president of the Young Liberals.