The Canberra Liberals say an attack on Senate candidate Zed Seselja for skipping candidate forums is “disgusting and vile” politics following the birth of his fifth child.
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But ACT Labor has accused the Liberals of creating “the classic straw man” by claiming Mr Seselja was being criticised for missing events due to the birth of his daughter on Monday.
The ACT Liberals have had to fend off accusations they are avoiding public scrutiny after complaints on Wednesday the party’s number one Senate candidate had missed at least seven multi-candidate forums during the campaign.
Liberal candidates in other states have also been accused of shying away from forums.
Canberra Liberals MLAs used social media to defend their former leader, accusing both Labor and the Greens of making the attack immediately after the birth of Mr Seselja’s daughter Grace, who was born on Monday night.
“The ALP have attacked Zed Seselja for taking time out of the campaign because his wife had a baby yesterday…very low,” tweeted ACT deputy opposition leader Alistair Coe.
ACT Labor responded by directing Mr Coe to read the story, which “defends Zed and asks why other candidates haven’t been attending forums” that took place when Mr Seselja was with his family this week.
ACT Labor secretary Elias Hallaj said no party had criticised the Senate candidate for taking a day off to spend time with his wife Ros and new child.
“It’s the classic straw man,” Mr Hallaj said.
“Something you create to distract from something you don’t want to think about.
“The straw man is the false accusation that someone in the Labor Party or Greens has bagged out Zed for missing an event due to the birth.
“I can’t find an instance of anybody saying anything critical about Zed missing an event because of his new child.”
Mr Hallaj said Mr Seselja and his fellow Liberal candidates were being criticised for their absence from several forums over the course of the whole campaign.
“They’ve missed a few events, including the biggest one of the campaign,” he said.
“There were no Liberals at the biggest forum at the Albert Hall last week [run by GetUp!]
“There were no Liberals at the [Australian Education Union] education forum that week that Kate Lundy and Simon Sheikh went to.”
But Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson said Mr Seselja had attended “dozens” of forums over many weeks.
“It’s quite clear that what they’re doing is using the birth of Zed’s child to attack Zed for not attending forums,” Mr Hanson said.
“For them to come out at that time for not attending forums, you can’t say it’s not related to the birth.”
Mr Hanson said Mr Hallaj and Greens candidate Simon Sheikh should “apologise to Ros Seselja for attacking her family”.
“There are forums that candidates do and don’t attend during the campaign,” he said.
“The GetUp! one is an example.
“He’s chosen not to go to that because it’s a front for the Greens.”
“No one could possibly criticise Zed Seselja for taking a day off to celebrate the birth of his new baby,” a Greens spokeswoman said.
“There should be a clear distinction made between comments or criticism referring to the last few months of forums or events that the Liberal Party candidates have not attended, and Zed very understandably spending this important time with his family.”
