National Party buys domain under Mildura state independent MP Ali Cupper’s name

Victoria’s state Nationals have been accused of publishing “highly misleading” propaganda after they bought a domain under MP’s name.

Independent Member for Mildura Ali Cupper has the alicupper.com.au domain, but typing in alicupper.com will lead to a website owned by a political party.

The National Party have bought a website domain bearing the name of a rival politician and are using it to host critical commentary of the state MP.

Voters in the Mildura electorate on Wednesday reported receiving flyers in their mailboxes asking questions about Mildura independent state MP Ali Cupper.

The flyers contained a QR code sending users to an alicupper.com website.

Ms Cupper has the rights to the alicupper.com.au domain, which is used for her official website.

But both the flyer and the alicupper.com website were marked as being authorised by the National Party’s Victorian branch.

“This website is not affiliated in any way with Ali Cupper MP,” a line discloses.

The alicupper.com domain leads to a website critical of Member for Mildura Ali Cupper.

The website criticises Ms Cupper for changing political affiliations and the coalition she formed with the Reason Party.

Ms Cupper ran as a Labor candidate at the 2010 state election before two consecutive tilts as an independent.

She entered into a coalition with the Reason Party in December, which made her Deputy Leader of the Reason Coalition.

Ms Cupper said she would remain an independent and was not become a Reason party member.

National Party state director Matthew Harris defended the flyer and website as ways to educate voters.

“Ali Cupper had misled Mildura into believing that she was an independent only to now be Deputy Leader of the Reason Coalition,” Mr Harris said.

“Ali has a track record siding with Labor over the interests of Mildura.

“Mildura voters deserve to know the truth about what she stands for.”

Ms Cupper in a social media video claimed the .com wasn’t the only domain related to her that had been sought by The Nationals.

“They actually tried to buy all the domain names that relate to Ali Cupper,” she said.

“Luckily the .com.au is subject to domain name laws, so we were able to get that one back, but the others because they are international domain names they are allowed to keep.”

Ms Cupper said if her political rivals wanted to print “propaganda” or “highly misleading information” about her, they should at least employ local printers to do it.

The flyer was printed in Thomastown.

Flyers being distributed in the Mildura electorate against MP Ali Cupper.

Ms Cupper also responded to the criticisms levelled at her.

“The reality is there’s going to be a whole lot of badges through my political career of parties that I’ve worked with, because that’s how you can get results,” she said.

“As an independent, that’s my job, to work with all sides.”

Ms Cupper suggested The Nationals spend more time on policy and “less time trying to have a crack at me”.

“It’s a distraction, it’s annoying, but it’s politics,” she said.

The flyers were distributed to homes in Mildura, while Ms Cupper said her office had been contacted by people in Ouyen who had received them.

Mildura is an electorate The Nationals will have within its sights at the 2022 state election.

Ms Cupper won the seat by 253 votes in 2018, unseating 12-year Nationals MP Peter Crisp.

Originally published as National Party buys domain under Mildura state independent MP Ali Cupper’s name