A One Nation candidate in Victoria has apologised for a series of offensive comments including repeated references to Australian-Indians as âcurry munchersâ, comparing a woman in burqa to a bag of rubbish, and sharing an image calling Julia Gillard a slut.The partyâs candidate for Greenvale on Melbourneâs north-western fringe, Chris Moore, also made derogatory comments about lesbians, refugees and once posted that he âdoesnât like the way the new homo cleaner at work looks at meâ.One Nation Victoria has not disendorsed the candidate over the comments, which were made on his personal Facebook page between 2010 and 2012.In a statement, Moore told Guardian Australia âthese were unthoughtful posts I shared as a young man among close friendsâ.âThey donât reflect who I am today,â Moore said. âToday Iâm focused on doing the right thing by the voters of Greenvale, and giving them a strong voice in the Victorian Parliament.âIn 2012, Moore shared a picture of a woman and a child both wearing a burqa and standing between two full plastic rubbish bags. He then posted: âHaha spot the differenceâ.Moore also shared an image of Gillard and the Neighbours character Alf Stewart.
The image of Gillard was accompanied by the caption: âsmash my box Alf!â. The image of Stewart was accompanied with: âIf I wanted a greasy red box Iâd go to KFC ya slutâ.Moore also posted saying he âshould probably stop shouting âCurry Muncherâ at the TV when Iâve got Indians living next doorâ.
He also posted that he âwonders who does the dishes in a lesbian relationship?âIn 2010 he posted: âJust got the curry munchers to wash his car and pretty happy with the way it came up, looks like the boat people are good for something after all?âGreenvale is a fairly safe Labor seat with a margin of 7.1%. It is held by Iwan Walters, a parliamentary secretary for multicultural affairs.The electorate has a large Islamic and West Asian population.
It has one of the highest proportions of people born in the Middle East and the lowest share or people with no religion.At the last election, there was a swing of almost 15% against Labor on a two-party preferred basis.On Tuesday, One Nation Victoria disendorsed its candidate for Preston, Franco Guardiani, whose private social media account described Adolf Hitler as the âGOATâ and claimed that âimporting Islam is making pedophilia legalâ.The partyâs Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, said Guardiani was disendorsed as soon as the comments were confirmed.âAt a time when Jewish Australians are experiencing unprecedented persecution, we are appalled that these comments have been made,â Pickering said.Guardiani said he was disappointed by the partyâs decision to dump him but understood their decision.One Nation also disendorsed its candidate for the seat of Melbourne, Matthew Collins, over now-deleted comments on social media regarding a number of issues including sexual consent and pornographic jokes. Collins has apologised for the comments.It is unclear how these candidateâs personal social media histories were not detected during candidate selection and vetting processes.
The party has claimed to have invested time and money into improving this process.In Victoria, One Nation candidates must provide their personal social media accounts for vetting. They are also interviewed by a three person selection panel including Pickering and two party officials.

