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.
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.
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.
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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