Just hours after “offensive and unacceptable” historical social media posts allegedly made by Liberal Party candidate for the Wyong electorate Matthew Squires came to light he was dumped by the Party.
A Liberal Party spokesperson said an investigation was launched into social media comments allegedly made by Squires after questions were raised by the media and reported in The Australian newspaper on Monday, March 13.
Later that day the office of NSW Premier Dom Perrottet confirmed Squires was no longer the endorsed candidate for Wyong and Perrottet supported the action taken by the Party.
In the recent past Squires had allegedly posted comments on social media including homophobic, Islamophobic, anti-vax and climate change conspiracy views which the Liberal Party deemed “had no place in the Party”.
A NSW Liberal Party spokesperson told CCN that the Party had acted “immediately and decisively” as soon as Squires’ comments were brought to their attention by the media.
“The information that was brought to our attention and made public about some of the things he has said on social media were quite offensive and unacceptable,” the spokesperson said.
When CCN asked why the Liberal Party had only just found out about the alleged historical comments and viewpoints of their endorsed candidate, and questioned the Party’s scrutiny of the candidates it endorses, the spokesperson said “we don’t discuss internal processes”.
“The Party had no choice but to disendorse the candidate who has failed to make appropriate disclosures to us during the nomination process but I’m unable to discuss the internal process publicly (of how a candidate is chosen and scrutinised),” the spokesperson said.
“We’re disappointed in how this came about but I don’t think anyone can argue that it was an important thing for us to do (disendorsement).
“The Liberal Party expects high standards from (its) candidates; the comments made by the candidate are offensive and unacceptable.”
Squires was a late entry in the run for the Wyong electorate, being endorsed only last week as the Liberal Party’s candidate and his disendorsement has left potential Liberal Party voters in the Wyong electorate sidelined.
According to Squires’ LinkedIn profile he is a healthcare leader with published articles in the clinical, process improvement and business space.
He has a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Institute of Business, is a member of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health and sits on the Global Leadership Panel of Fight Cancer Global – a leading international multidisciplinary health network.
Squires consults on topics ranging from digital innovation to industry transformation and claims to have a strong understanding of emerging trends, continuing to grow leading healthcare solutions locally.
Squires provided CCN with the following comment:
“For far too long now the people of my electorate, Wyong, have been intimidated into censoring their personally held convictions on a range on topics.
“Woke ideologues are becoming increasingly intolerant of any dissent – moral or otherwise.
“Coming into the election campaign, I consciously chose to stand up to the bullies and present myself transparently to the electorate.
“We should all be able to respectfully share our views, online or otherwise, without fear of being cancelled or misrepresented sometime in the future.
“This is fundamental to our Australian tradition and vital to any properly functioning democracy.”
Sue Murray
I live in the Wyong electorate, and I have NEVER “been intimidated into censoring (my) personally held convictions on a range on topics”.
Where on Earth does this garbage come from?