Pauline Hanson has disendorsed another candidate from her Queensland party less than a month after announcing the team she would take to the 2018 state election.
Shan Ju Lin, One Nation’s candidate for Bundamba, was dumped on Saturday evening after she posted on Facebook that “gays should be treated as patients”.
Ju Lin posted the comment on Friday along with an old story about a same-sex couple in the US who faced charges in 2011 over raping one of their foster children. She wrote above the story: “Abnormal sex behaviour leads to abnormal crime. Gays should be treated as patients, they need to receive treatments.”
But the story she posted did not indicate that both men were later cleared of all charges in 2014, and in 2015 filed a $100m lawsuit in connection with the case.
Hanson says that after she became aware of Ju Lin’s post on Friday, she warned that party officials were not happy with the comments and she asked for Ju Lin’s “social media page” to be suspended and for the review committee to reconsider her endorsement.
Hanson says Ju Lin then made further disparaging remarks on Saturday, telling executive members on Facebook: “Once the gays realise they can put pressure on a candidate, they will start to target other One Nation candidates also.”
Hanson’s political adviser, James Ashby, then dumped Ju Lin on Saturday evening, via Facebook Messenger.
Ashby says this was because Ju Lin was in Taiwan and could not be contacted by phone. He said Ju Lin responded: “If Pauline has decided it, than [sic] I best follow her decision.”
Ju Lin later thanked her supporters on Facebook, saying: “No matter what happened, I will continue to hold the values that we are holding.”
Hanson said in a statement on Sunday: “I will not stand by & allow people to trash the Party or my name so I make no apologies for being tough on candidates. These are not the views shared by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, nor the views of your fellow candidates and the general public.”
Ju Lin said being dropped from the party came as a “complete surprise” and nominated Ashby as the reason for her disendorsement. Ju Lin she had been given no opportunity to speak directly to Hanson, who can only be contacted through Ashby.
“I would suggest that the alleged issue was far more important to Mr Ashby than the membership or executive of One Nation,” Ju Lin said on Sunday.
The Taiwanese-born candidate threw her support behind Hanson last month, claiming “good Asians” would vote for One Nation at the state election. She is now the second candidate to leave since Hanson unveiled the first batch of 36 people she would take to the polls.
The Currumbin candidate Andy Semple withdrew from the party just two days after the 18 December announcement after he was reportedly asked to delete a tweet from his personal account.
“It seems #PHON (Pauline Hanson’s One Nation) only likes certain types of Freedom of Expression,” Semple tweeted.
Semple’s Twitter feed included comments about burqas being banned, describes vegans as “miserable people” and says women with unshaved armpits are “not cool at all”.
with AAP
