ABC News
)Former South Australian Labor MP Annabel Digance says she was also a victim of a racist flyer put out during her 2014 state election campaign.
Ms Digance spoke out about the flyer on Saturday after staying silent on the issue for seven years, prompting an apology from state secretary Reggie Martin, who approved it.
The flyer asked: "Can you trust Habib?" and featured a wall ridden with bullet holes.
Carolyn Habib — who has since married and changed her name to Carolyn Power — lost the 2014 election to Ms Digance but won in 2018.
Supplied
)Ms Digance apologised after ABC Radio Adelaide host David Bevan put the pair on air together.
"And with what you’ve said about your family and yourself and the suffering you have been through, I feel really sorry for what you’ve undergone."
Ms Power questioned Ms Digance's sincerity.
"Annabel, you are nothing like me, and I find it very difficult to believe it’s genuine," Ms Power said.
"You’ve had every opportunity over the last seven years."
Digance did not see brochure until it was out
Ms Digance admitted the brochure was racist.
On Saturday, she said she did not see it until it was in letterboxes.
"I did see it as really cutting to the core," Ms Digance said this morning.
Ms Power's father was born in Lebanon.
Her Elder electorate includes a large mosque at Park Holme.
ABC News
)Ms Digance said she was "quite frightened" about speaking out because of bullying from other Labor Party members.
Ms Power said the apology should have been done in person — rather than in the media — and it was "sad" that people behind the flyer were still in positions of power in the ALP.
"Being a leader and genuinely putting your community first means being a lone voice and fighting for them no matter what," Ms Power said.
