A Northern Territory Labor Party politician is under fire after indicating in a tweet that a recent anti-terrorism operation to thwart a plane bombing was "convenient" for the Liberal and National parties.
The Government MLA for the seat of Katherine, Sandra Nelson, made the comments in a tweet last night during the ABC's Q&A program.
"Polling for LNP not good. Therefore we now have a 'terrorist attack'. How convenient," she wrote.
Her comments appear to relate to the recent anti-terrorism raids in Sydney, which have been linked to an alleged plan by terrorists to blow up a plane.
The comments attracted criticism from those who saw the tweet, and the Country Liberals senator in the Northern Territory, Nigel Scullion, said he was appalled.
"Comments by Sandra Nelson seeking to use this very serious national security issue for Territory Labor's political gain are disgraceful," Senator Scullion said in a statement.
"It is reasonable to ask whether Ms Nelson's comments suggesting the Turnbull Government has engaged in a grand conspiracy are the views of the Gunner Government."
Ms Nelson later said she was not suggesting the weekend's terror raids were part of a Federal Government conspiracy to boost polling numbers.
"I certainly did not mean that by the tweet at all, and I'm really sorry that's what the tweet suggested," Ms Nelson said.
"I absolutely understand that there's a very real terrorism treat in Australia and I'm sorry if my tweet actually suggested otherwise."
This afternoon the comments remained on her Twitter page.
