Richard Deng isolated as questions over his links to Labor Party grow

Questions grow over Victorian Labor Party’s ties to a South Sudanese community leader who called for the PM to be deported.

Bill Shorten with community leader Richard Deng at a Labor Christmas Party.

A leader of Melbourne’s South Sudanese community has criticised colleague Richard Deng for his calls to “deport” Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Dutton.

Mr Deng, a spokesman for the South Sudanese Community Association, yesterday said the Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister should be “sent back to where they come from” for their handling of Melbourne’s summer youth crime crisis.

Kenyatta Wal, of the Federation of South Sudanese Associations, said he had not been told of Mr Deng’s comments until yesterday but he felt it was the wrong approach in dealing with African youth crime in the state.

“It is not the time for this ... all Australians need to sit down together and talk about how we can ­engage with South Sudanese and African youth,” he said. “Now is not the time for ­accusations and counteraccusations.”

His comments came as police revealed they had not made any arrests following a spate of brutal home invasions and street bashings last month.

One of the most serious incidents involved a gang rampage that led to two young men being bashed and a 58-year-old woman being assaulted in her living room. “The investigation is ongoing,” a police spokesman said.

Mr Deng has been the public face of the community’s leadership over the past two years and has made several controversial statements during the summer youth crime crisis.

Questions have arisen over Mr Deng’s ties to the Victorian Labor Party. He has been photographed several times with the Labor candidate for the state seat of Tarneit and took several selfies with Bill Shorten as recently as December.

Mr Deng wrote on his Facebook page about the Opposition Leader’s Christmas party for his Moonee Valley branch on December 14 and signalled his support for both Mr Shorten and several Labor candidates standing in November’s Victorian state election.

“Politics is about survival and we must support those politicians who are humble and willing to support our new emerging communities of African-­Australians,” Mr Deng wrote. “Thanks to Labor Party for the invite.”

Mr Shorten did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr Deng appeared in another picture with Labor’s Tarneit state candidate, Sarah Connolly, in late November on Facebook.

It is not clear whether Mr Deng is a member of the ALP and he did not reply to a request for comment yesterday. Mr Deng on Sunday said he was willing to campaign against Mr Turnbull and Mr Dutton because of their handling of youth crime.