The treasurer Josh Frydenberg has sought to distance the Liberals from “extremist” views, saying dumped candidates who have expressed antisemitic and homophobic comments have “no place” in the party.
The remarks come after posters of Frydenberg – a practicing Jew – were defaced with Nazi symbols throughout his electorate of Kooyong, and as the party reels from the loss of several candidates for offensive social media comments.
Frydenberg also defended the Queensland branch of the party, after it suspended prominent Liberal National party member David Goodwin for attending a “LNP conservative recruitment event” attended by far-right ringleader Neil Erikson.
Conceding the election campaign had become “toxic”, Frydenberg rejected suggestions the Victorian branch of the party had been attempting to recruit members of the far right.
“We’re not aggressively seeking to recruit people with extremist views ... those views expressed by some individuals have no place in our party,” Frydenberg told ABC’s Insiders program.
“The Liberal party that I joined, that I’m a member of, that I’m proud to be its deputy and Scott Morrison is proud to be the leader of, we are tolerant.
“If people are religious, and those views that they have accord with their religion and they want to express them and they’re legal, so be it. But we don’t want people with extremist views in our party [and] we don’t sanctions these views”
Frydenberg said the vandalism of his political posters was “an insult to all the victims of the Holocaust”, and took aim at the toxicity of the election campaign.
“Social media is contributing to that, with everyone having a megaphone. But there are also people in our community with quite abhorrent views,” he said.
The treasurer, who is also fighting to defend his seat of Kooyong against a tilt from an independent and the Greens, was asked to defend his government’s decision to support franking credits and not spend more money on childcare.
“The Labor party have decided to go the route of higher taxes without actually explaining the subsequent consequential impact on the economy of $387bn of taxes,” Frydenberg said.
“We’re saying that we can provide lower taxes and franking credits, and record funding on childcare and other essential services.
“So everything that we laid out in the budget, guaranteeing the essential services, $100bn on infrastructure spending, tax cuts … was all done without increasing taxes.”
When asked to outline the Coalition’s vision beyond tax cuts, Frydenberg said the party was committed to fiscal responsibility, guaranteeing essential services and growing the economy.
