The New South Wales Liberal MP Glenn Brookes has stood down from the Liberal party and state parliamentary committees after his election campaign manager was charged with electoral offences relating to a smear campaign against his opponent in the state election.
Brookes is the Liberal member for East Hills, where there was a heated election battle in 2015 between Brookes and the Labor candidate, Cameron Murphy. The Bankstown councillor Jim Daniel served as Brookes’ campaign manager at the time.
An anonymous smear campaign was launched against Murphy, which alleged he was a “paedophile lover” in hundreds of pamphlets posted around the electorate.
But last Thursday Daniel was charged with several offences by the New South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC). A spokesman for the premier, Mike Baird, told the Daily Telegraph Brookes was standing aside.
Brookes released a statement saying he was “shocked and horrified by the allegations” made against his campaign manager.
“The allegations are a surprise to me and I was not aware of the alleged behaviour at the time.”
A spokesman for the NSWEC said: “The NSWEC conducted an investigation concerning a number of complaints, alleging breaches of ... the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act during the NSW 2015 state general election period. It will be alleged by the NSWEC that political campaign material distributed in the electorate of East Hills was in contravention of the act.
“As a result of NSWEC investigations, two court attendance notices were filed at the Downing centre local court and served upon Mr Jim Daniel on Thursday 17 March 2015. Mr Daniel was the campaign manager for the current member for East Hills, Mr Glenn Brookes, during the NSW 2015 general state election.”
The two offences at the heart of the NSWEC’s investigation concerned rules requiring all advertisements to have names and addresses of authorised persons printed on them.
The case will be heard in May at Downing centre court.
