Federal election 2025: LNP Leichhardt candidate Jeremy Neal’s posts on Trump, China

A Queensland LNP candidate whose campaign launch featured MAGA-inspired trinkets previously blamed feminists for aiding Donald Trump’s election loss and labelled China a “grub of a country”.

LNP candidate for Leichhardt Jeremy Neal (left) with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton

An LNP candidate whose campaign launch in a must-win Queensland seat featured MAGA-inspired trinkets previously blamed feminists for aiding Donald Trump’s election loss and labelled China a“grub of a country”.

LNP Leichhardt hopeful Jeremy Neal had also railed against Covid-19 restrictions and vaccines, and called for the ABC to be defunded.

But Mr Neal on Tuesday defended the now-deleted posts from 2020-22 as simply “poorly worded”.

He offered an apology, while also noting a majority of the posts were written during the Covid-19 pandemic, and as a paramedic he was on the frontline dealing with “extremely traumatic incidents” that had a profound impact on him.

The spotlight on Mr Neal’s history of anti-China, pro-Trump views comes as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton attempts to distance himself from the views and policies of the volatile US president at a time where Donald Trump’s brand has become increasingly toxic among Australian voters.

It also comes at a precarious point for the LNP, who are fighting to hold on to Leichhardt after the retirement of popular long-time MP Warren Entsch.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is tipped to lend his might to Labor’s Matt Smith, with expectations Labor’s campaign will make its way to Leichardt on Wednesday.

A dossier of Mr Neal’s posts dating back to 2020, obtained by the Courier-Mail, includes tweets about how “Feminists helped kick #Trump out only to ruin – 19000000 women’s lives in #Afghanistan under #Biden”.

LNP campaign volunteers Primrose Kern and Peter Fitzgibbon at Jeremy Neal's campaign launch

In November 2020 Mr Neal posted “China is a grub of a country”, which the LNP noted was in response to an incident where the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman posted a fake picture that depicted an Australian soldier murdering an Afghan child.

That same month Mr Neal tweeted, “Vote for freedom of the Western world. Vote for Trump and keep us all safe.”

Then in August 2021 Mr Neal said “feminists helped kick Trump out only to ruin ~ 19000000 women’s lives in Afghanistan under Biden”.

In April 2022 he posted “Daddy Elon is leading the charge”, in reference to the billionaire boss of Tesla Elon Musk — who is now a key player in Mr Trump’s inner circle in charge of spearheading drastic public service cuts.

Mr Neal’s campaign launch on April 6 included MAGA-inspired merchandise, with volunteers spotted wearing bright red caps bearing the phrase “MAGA: Make Albo go away”.

“I share Peter Dutton’s concerns over President Trump’s tariffs, particularly the impact they will have on our local beef industry,” he said.

“The posts in question, which have long been deleted, were poorly worded and I unreservedly apologise for them.

“The majority of these were posted in the midst of the Covid pandemic when I was working on the frontline as a paramedic, attending some extremely traumatic incidents in my community.

“These experiences had a profound impact on me at the time.”

A Labor campaign spokeswoman said Mr Neal’s “support for far-right American ideology” was a matter for the LNP to explain, but said Labor governments stood up for Australia because they stood for Australian values.

Originally published as Federal election 2025: LNP Leichhardt candidate Jeremy Neal’s posts on Trump, China