25 September 2024

Candidate's social media posts, Kikkert video send Liberals' campaign off the rails

| Ian Bushnell
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Double trouble: Darren Roberts and Elizabeth Kikkert together in March. Photo: Facebook.

The Canberra Liberals’ campaign in Ginninderra is in trouble after the emergence of contentious social media posts by their candidate Darren Roberts under a pseudonym and the leaking of a video of disendorsed MLA Elizabeth Kikkert on the day she announced she was running for the conservative Family First Party.

ACT Labor has called on Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee to move against Mr Roberts, calling the content racist and offensive, but Ms Lee did not front media today, leaving her Deputy Leanne Castley to face questions.

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The Labor spokesperson said: “While it’s clear there is still a deeply held conservatism within the Canberra Liberal party, this goes beyond acceptable behaviour for a potential member of the ACT Legislative Assembly. It’s hateful and vile.

“Canberrans have a right to ask what is happening in the Canberra Liberals and whether the Opposition Leader was aware of this account before she endorsed Mr Roberts as a candidate.”

Labor said Ms Lee could not continue to hide from the “chaos” of her party.

Mr Roberts ran a social media account under the name of Bert Poppins and regularly commented on Aboriginal people, including the Voice referendum, gender issues, climate change and ACT politics.

On 26 June last year, during the referendum campaign, Bert Poppins reposted a rant about government payments to Aboriginal people, Welcome to Country ceremonies and being told it is their country. “I’m offended as well. Let’s push back!” he commented.

Another shared post on 3 September showed a picture of Aboriginal Senator Lidia Thorpe with the words “Good news. My IQ test came back negative.”

‘Bert’ also commented on 10 August 2023 on a post of a photo of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese being painted on the forehead at what looks like the annual Garma festival in the Northern Territory, with “DICK” superimposed. “OMG this sums this guy up!!!!!”

Another post called the Voice referendum a sham.

One shared post shows a pregnant woman asking her doctor, “Is it a boy or a girl?” The doctor replies: “We’ll let the kindergarten teacher decide.” The comment is: “The future of the ACT Government social experiment!!!”

Even Australian cricket captain Pat Cummings comes in for a whack for his “woke” views, including about climate change.

The very short security video of Mrs Kikkert, who was booted from the Canberra Liberals ticket on 10 September for allegedly inappropriate behaviour towards party staff and alleged breaches of the Electoral Act, purportedly shows her lashing out with a mobile phone at someone in the division office.

It was reportedly shared among party members as evidence of her poor behaviour.

Mrs Kikkert, whom Ms Lee dumped from the front bench along with Jeremy Hanson last year, has denied all allegations and says the video is misleading.

The issues around Mrs Kikkert and now Mr Roberts have thrown the campaign in Ginninderra into disarray and could overflow into the campaign generally, raising questions about party unity.

Elizabeth Lee

Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee did not front media, but in a statement, said she had no knowledge of the personal Facebook page, and the shared posts by Mr Roberts were not the position of the Canberra Liberals. Photo: Michelle Kroll.

Ms Lee shifted the Canberra Liberals to the centre and reduced the influence of the party’s socially conservative wing but Mr Roberts’ social media posts will again remind voters how entrenched it is.

It is believed her relationship with Mr Hanson remains fraught.

Although Ms Castley said she had not seen the posts, she said, “The views certainly aren’t my views or the Canberra Liberals’ views”.

She said Mr Roberts was vetted like everybody else and his future was up to the division.

Asked what impact this may have, Ms Castley said: “We’ll find that out at the polls and that’s something that Darren will have to deal with.”

On Mrs Kickett, she said she had not seen the video and could not answer questions about it, only saying it was a unanimous decision of the management committee to disendorse Mrs Kikkert.

The Liberals have not replaced Mrs Kikkert and will run only four candidates in Ginninderra, including Mr Roberts.

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Region put a list of questions to Ms Lee and the Canberra Liberals.

A party statement said Ms Lee had no knowledge of the personal Facebook page and the shared posts by Mr Roberts were not the position of the Canberra Liberals.

“It is ludicrous and unrealistic to expect Ms Lee to know all accounts (and the contents of those accounts) that follow or engage with her public Facebook page,” the statement said.

“Unlike Andrew Barr, who actively turns off any form of communication through his social media channels, Ms Lee has an open and transparent social media presence.”

The statement said Ms Lee had no engagement whatsoever with the account save for the comment made specifically in response to the account sharing her original post.

Ms Lee had not been active on her personal Facebook account for a number of years.

She was not aware of the video being circulated of Mrs Kikkert or how it made its way to the Canberra Times.

Questions directed to the party about the video and Mr Roberts’ endorsement were not answered.

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fridgemagnet1:56 pm 26 Sep 24

The talent pool seem a bit too shallow for ACT Liberals to earn my vote. That said, Labor has muddied their own water through years of mismanagement of ratepayer funds and an unwillingness to take responsibility for their failings ($78m HR system debacle, many millions wasted at CIT and Campbell Primary School etc). Their land grab of the Canberra Olympic Pool for convention centre instead of refurbishment of an iconic oasis in the city is the final straw. Seeking integrity from Green and Independents this time around.

When the Liberals promise to bring the light rail to Kippax, I’ll vote for them.

What is on display is the character of the ACT Liberals. Until folk with visible and credible integrity like Parton and Castley lead the ACT Liberals, it will be another four years of Barr humbug.

I was Chair of the Belconnen Community Council for five years and Deputy Chair for the years either side of that time and not once did this bloke come to a meeting, send an email or make an inquiry with us. Much like the woman he seeks to replace, that level of invisibility isn’t a chance thing, it’s intentional.
That people don’t know how to interrogate and test the validity of social media accounts in this day and age disappoints but doesn’t surprise me, but the Canberra Liberals claim that they can’t be aware of every social media account of their endorsed candidates tells you something about their vetting processes.
It must grate away at the souls of the really genuine members of the party when this stuff just keeps happening year after year, campaign after campaign.
The people of the ACT have been craving a competent opposition party in the assembly for over two decades and they keep being disappointed by the management and quality of operations: I suspect because of the lack of genuine movement back toward a sensible centre.

Thanks for that Glen.

You might be born here, but lets welcome you to country every 5 minutes.

Whats wrong with calling that out. Many aboriginal people don’t care for it either.

If its not actually racist. Isn’t calling it racist, then racism?

The Labor side didnt call out the greens for having wacky ideas and racism in the middle east.

Ironic that because of this story appearing here and on the ABC a few minutes ago, far more people have been exposed to this content. If these journos really believed the posts are offensive and cared about those who are the butt of these jokes they would have buried the story and spared them more ridicule

David Pollard - Independent for Yerrabi7:51 am 26 Sep 24

The public deserves/needs to know all the candidates standing for election, and media has a responsibility to facilitate that.

Burying the story would be negligent to that responsibility.

Point taken that ‘bury’ was a poor choice of words. ‘Ignore’ would have better expressed the point I was making. Honestly though, basing ones vote on the sense of humour of the candidates is childish.

It isn’t “humour”, it is deeply ingrained racism. Politicians are elected to represent everyone in the community and not to pick and choose who they will represent.

Considering how poorly labor have managed the ACT over the last two decades, these minor liberal hiccups on the campaign are nothing.

The trouble is we only need to look at recent past in other states as well as the previous Federal Government to see how much worse the Libs are.

NGL I’m probably gonna vote for this dude and/or the Kikkert sheila, good on them.

What do people expect, another farce from the Canberra Liberals with the party’s leader now in hiding refusing to front the media! Last election we saw stunts, meat pies and boxing gloves with two of the party’s candidates dumped, one for his extreme views and the other for threatening and bullying behaviour towards a female candidate. This election the party has sacked one of its candidates for breaches of the Electoral Act and bullying of staff. Now another candidate is hanging by a thread and under investigation for his extreme, sexisst and homophobic comments posted to social media.

The Canberra Liberals will not win this year’s election. Nor will they move forward with a male dominated and disdainful management committee controlling a revolving door of non-entities linked to conservative and far-right politics. Candidates for this year’s election are the most socially conservative the party has ever put forward in an election that I can remember. Decades of weak leaderships and unwelcoming towards women, the party is unable to attract quality candidates remaining staunchly in the past, firmly aligned to the far-right conservatism of Zed Seselja and his cronies.

Canberrans are the big losers!

Gregg Heldon8:45 am 26 Sep 24

You mean Jack, just like your unwelcoming attitude towards any woman who decides to become a Liberal candidate? I mean, your unwelcoming of any Liberal candidate but you have, in the past, loved to have been, very harsh on the females in the blue camp.
Your comments only highlight your double standards. How many times has Barr or Rattenbury not fronted the media about issues but have asked the deputy to do so? The costings over 2B and Jonathan Davis are two that spring to mind.
What’s one of the tenets of a democracy? I may not agree with what you say, but I agree with your right to say it. That’s why you’re able to comment here with your wildly boring, stereotyping judgemental statements about all Liberal voters are sexist, racist and homophobic. A few might be, and that’s unfortunate but most aren’t. But, when you say that, you are hiding/ignoring the fact that there are still a few Labor voters around from that Irish Catholic, trade union, post war, white Australia racist standpoint. The ones who were opposed to the post war wave of immigration and called all those immigrants all the names under the sun. The ones who haven’t jumped ship to One Nation yet.
Just remember Jackie, every political party is not perfect. Nor are there voters.

Maybe you should be focusing on the disgraceful unwelcoming and sexist viewpoints inherent in the Liberal party rather than me Gregg Heldon! There were 30 Liberal candidates who put their hands up for preselection at this year’s territory election. Disgracefully, 15 men and only 10 women were preselected.

The Canberra Liberals’ male dominated and contemptuous management committee continues to control a revolving door of non-entities, both male and female, linked to extreme and far-right politics. Candidates in this year’s territory election are the most conservative the party has ever put forward in an election. One female sitting member was recently dumped for bullying staff and breaching electoral laws. She is now running as a candidate for the far right Family First Party. Another “should have been dumped” Liberal candidate is currently in the media for using social media to broadcast his extreme, sexist and transphobic viewpoints. The party tolerates this behaviour and refuses to disendorse him for his conduct!

Liberal leader Elizabeth Lee has just emerged from hiding, too timid to front the media yesterday to explain these transgressions which have been known to the party for many months.

A party of unelectable rabble whose right-wing conservatism, racism and transphobia are endemic within its ranks, bubbling away under the surface for all to see!

Gregg Heldon7:52 am 27 Sep 24

I love how you dodge questions asked Jack. Just like you accused Elizabeth Lee of doing. So I’ll ask again.
How many times has Andrew Barr not fronted up, or answered questions about finances, like stage 2B? And how long did it take Shane Rattenbury to answer questions about Jonathan Davis? About a week, if memory serves me.
And if you’re going to bring up candidate numbers, what’s the split for the Labor party? It’s about the same, isn’t it? 15/10? Careful, those double standards are showing again.

Gregg Heldon8:04 am 27 Sep 24

I’ve also still yet to work out how a party (or branch of) is racist when they have a leader born overseas, several of their candidates are born in Asia and Africe, or have heritage from there, and have at least one other candidate with indigenous heritage.
That sounds diverse to me, not racist at all.
I’m sure you’ll tell me with your broad, sweeping, lazy stereotyping observations from 1975. Which were still incorrect because that party had the first Federal Indigenous Senator.

The Stage 2A business case was released by the government in 2019 Gregg Heldon! This 154-page report is publicly available on its website. The government has signed a $577m contract for its construction and the Commonwealth has tipped in a further $125.5m. Work is currently underway.

Stage 2A is the busiest and one of the most complex leg of the project, providing access to businesses, residences, ANU and major entertainment events at Commonwealth Park.

I am not sure how long it takes Shane Rattenbury to answer questions, it is of no interest to me!

There are 13 female Labor candidates preselected for this year’s territory election and 12 men. There are currently six Labor women MLA’s elected to our Assembly and four men!

Do your homework Gregg Heldon!

I look forward to Elizabeth Lee acting like a true leader and publicly distancing herself from the disgraceful racist, sexist and transphobic viewpoints which are endemic in the party Gregg Heldon!

These deep-rooted attitudes were highlighted by Ginninderra Liberal candidate Darren Roberts in his social media posts and were well known by the party but not acted upon.

I look forward to Ms Lee sacking Mr Roberts rather excusing his behaviour and trotting out the usual line that the party has diverse views!

As you should be aware Gregg Heldon, planning for Stage 2B of the light rail project to Woden through the parliamentary triangle is still underway. Negotiations are still in progress due to the complexity of the project.

There is widespread support for the project despite whingeing from the usual naysayers.

The business case will be released when finalised as one would expect!

Jack D accused of avoiding answering questions, then directly responds to a question about Light Rail Stage 2B by only referencing a different stage.

Particularly funny when the business case that Jack mentions shows that Stage 2A actually costs far more than the benefits it provides, yet Jack still thinks its a great and wonderful, visionary project because it’s the ALP proposing it.

Stop it, my sides are splitting, haha.

Gregg Heldon3:46 pm 27 Sep 24

I didn’t make any mention about 2A, Jack. Just your usual deflective practice when someone asks a hard question. A question you still haven’t really answered.
But here is some more. And I’m a fan a light rail but not a fan of where stage 1 went.
Why is it still being planned when it was announced three weeks before the 2016 election? Why not announce a different stage 2B if negotiations are too difficult with two different Federal Governments? Would you concur that public support will wane, the longer nothing gets done?
If there are 6 female Labor MLAs, why are they being led by a Male? That’s not really modern equality in action, is it? I’m not being sarcastic there. They are all genuine questions.
IMOHO, I think Barr keeps on banging on about 2B, but knowing it will never be build. Via the Parliamentary Triangle anyway. It’s all about the northside for him.

In answer to your question Gregg Heldon, Katy Gallagher nominated Andrew Barr to succeed her when she stood down as CM. The party room met and voted unanimously for Mr Barr to become leader and CM.

That is the normal process for electing Labor leaders as happened with Jon Stanhope when he stood down and nominated Katy Gallagher to replace him. The party met and endorsed the decision for Ms Gallagher to become party leader and CM.

In my defence, I gave you an answer to stage 2A of the light rail which was not the question you asked. I had misplaced my glasses and misread your question. I found my glasses, reattached my eyes and provided you with the answer you sought!

Jack D,
That still doesn’t answer the question on Light Rail.

Anyone with the most vague interest in infrastructure planning knows you would expect a business case to be developed before committing to a project, because otherwise you have no idea what you are committing to.

Which pretty much perfectly describes the ALP/Greens position which is one of pure ideological faith rather than detailed, evidence based policy.

And even then, good project planning should have developed early cost estimates to allow staged investments and feasibility work to continue.

But all we hear is crickets.

Yet at the same time you are perfectly fine with the ALP releasing deliberately skewed and politically driven cost estimates for a city stadium whist Andrew Barr refuses to answer any questions on cost estimates for future stages of light rail.

Scurrying away and hiding in the exact same fashion you deride Ms Lee for. If you didn’t have double standards, you wouldn’t have any at all.

Chewy using his considerable time to bang on about light rail again!

Yawn!

Jack D,
Unable to respond to the most basic critiques of his position.

Always.

Struggling to see any issue here. Labor desperation.

Hope he stays on the ticket, I’d vote for him.
Pretty middle of the road posts for anyone who hasn’t drunk the koolaid nor bent the knee to ESG.

I normally leave the accusations of bias to other readers, however this article left me feeling compelled. 1) Mrs Kikkert was unanimously disendorsed because the Liberals were aware of the behaviour mentioned above and acted accordingly. They could have tried to cover it up but they chose to deal with it immediately despite how close it was to the election. How does the videos release further tarnish them? 2) Whilst it’s clear the social media activities of Bert Poppins are clearly manifestly unacceptable for someone seeking to represent our community, the article provides no evidence that the Liberal candidate is actually operating under the pseudonym other than a Labor accusation. Surely the public deserves some evidence to support such a claim.

Today I learn that the truth and making jokes about the reality of things these days is apparently “racist and offensive”. 🤣

Never mind that some people find double standards for aboriginals and the gender nonsense offensive too.

Also, Thorpe deserves to be mocked.

Darren Roberts has done nothing wrong here.

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