CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses domestic violence and racist language.
The Liberal candidate for Fowler, Vivek Singha, has apologised after a number of offensive tweets were uncovered that included derogatory terms against Indigenous Australians and posts about Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s personal family matters.
First reported by ABC News on Monday, the post made during the lead-up to the Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023 — where Singha was advocating for a ‘No’ vote — used a derogatory term to describe Indigenous Australians. They also made personal attacks on Plibersek, referencing her daughter’s experience in an abusive relationship.
In one post he claimed “everybody needs to wake up to the sleeping lazybags (the Alboriginals)”, per the publication, and posted a number of offensive tweets from August to October 2023.
Another anti-Voice post from the account read “50K per a**, already being spent, they’ll want 500K per head”, which was flagged by X (formerly Twitter) as a possible violation of its rules.
In October 2023, a post from the account appeared to criticise Environment Minister Plibersek, asking “why are you of all people standing for others when you couldn’t even look after your own daughter’s safety”.
Over a week later, another comment on the account appeared to take aim at Plibersek’s family, shared alongside media reports about her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter. It stated “wow, it is a great team (NOT) that is now leading the nation!!!” and the disturbing accusation “that’s why her daughter was bashed”.
Coutts-Trotter, a prominent public servant in NSW, has openly discussed his conviction for heroin importation and his struggles with drug addiction in the 1980s. He recently shared his story on the podcast series Bounce Back in 2020, which is sponsored by DrinkWise.
In a statement to the ABC, Singha issued an apology for the offensive tweets.
“I should not have expressed myself in that way and I sincerely regret doing so,” he told the publication.
Addressing the media on Monday, Opposition leader Peter Dutton said Singha has apologised for the comments “and so he should have” before promptly launching into an attack against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Greens.
“[The comments] were inappropriate and shouldn’t have been made. He has apologised for them. I won’t take a lecture from the prime minister who has a relationship with the Greens,” Dutton told reporters.
Singha’s account has been made inactive.
Earlier this month, the Liberal Party removed its support for NSW candidate Benjamin Britton after he expressed he believed women should “be removed from combat” roles within the Australian Defence Force (ADF), stating their hips “are being destroyed because they can’t cope with the carrying of the heavy loads” and the heavy impacts from doing combat-related jobs.
Britton also shared beliefs that pornography leads to “transgender desires” and gender dysphoria, and blamed “diversity and equity quotas, and these woke Marxist ideologies” for Australia’s defences weakening.
The Administrative Committee of the NSW division has since endorsed Nathaniel Smith for the Whitlam seat instead.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Singha’s team for comment.
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