A New South Wales Labor candidate has complained to police about a smear campaign in which thousands of leaflets labelling him a “paedophile lover” were distributed throughout the electorate he was running in.
Cameron Murphy, the Labor candidate for the seat of East Hills in last month’s state election, is also planning to complain to the Electoral Commission over the anonymous campaign.
Thousands of flyers calling Murphy a “paedophile”, “supporter of child rapists” and a “convicted rapist” were distributed in letterboxes around the electorate in the weeks leading up to the election on 28 March. The night before the election 300 posters were plastered with stickers saying “paedophile lover”.
Votes are still being counted in the electorate with the Liberal candidate, Glenn Brookes, less than 600 votes ahead of Murphy with a 0.3% swing to the Liberal party.
Murphy, who was made a member of the Order of Australia last year for his services to civil rights, was previously the president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties. In 2009 he defended the right of the paedophile Dennis Ferguson to public housing after a law was passed specifically to allow his eviction.
Murphy said the campaign against him was “incredibly malicious, orchestrated and organised”.
“I made thousands of public comments on matters of human rights. I have had to fight for the rights of some of the most marginalised people in our community in order to ensure the rights of all of us are preserved,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph on the weekend.
“... For the record, I have an unblemished history. I have never been suspected of, arrested, charged with, or ever been convicted of any offence. I have always been an ethical person and confined my views to the issues, not the people involved in any matter.”
He said the core issue was whether the democratic process could survive such negative campaigns or spur political parties to choose “wooden candidates” who have never taken a position on anything so they cannot be smeared.
“If we want strong leaders and good politicians then we have to ensure that those responsible for this are investigated and prosecuted as a lesson for the future. Otherwise election campaigns will simply become a free-for-all where anyone can make up allegations in order to smear their opponents,” he said.
Murphy said he was also devastated for his wife who had to look at them and worried about what his young son would think when he grows older and can understand what the flyers mean.
NSW police confirmed a complaint had been received relating to campaign material distributed in East Hills.
When asked if premier Mike Baird condemned the campaign, a spokesman told Guardian Australia: “The premier condemns all breaches of electoral laws, including distribution of unauthorised material”.
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