The Tasmanian Liberal election campaign has been dealt another blow with star Braddon candidate Adam Brooks summonsed to appear in court on alleged firearms storage offences.
One week after the resignation of candidate Dean Ewington, who advocated against COVID-19 lockdowns, the party will now face questions over Mr Brooks, who resigned from the last term of government after an Integrity Commission report into the handling of his business while mining minister.
A Tasmania Police spokeswoman said: "A 45-year-old north-west man will be proceeded against in relation to alleged firearms storage offences".
"Police allege the man incorrectly stored ammunition as required by the Firearms Act.
"The man will be summonsed to appear in the Devonport Magistrates Court at a later date."
In a statement, Mr Brooks said: "I am a clay target shooter and I have had a discussion with the police in relation to the storage of ammunition, there are no firearms involved".
Liberal leader Peter Gutwein said he had spoken to Mr Brooks about the allegations.
"As he has advised he will be vigorously defending the ammunition storage allegations … he will remain a candidate," Mr Gutwein said.
Adam Brooks was elected to the state parliament in 2010.
He was elevated to the Cabinet in 2016 but booted to the backbench after misleading parliament over the use of a private email account related to his business, Maintenance System Solutions.
He later corrected the record.
Mr Brooks was preselected to stand again in the 2018 state election, pulling more than 10,000 first preference votes
Later in the same year, his use of the Maintenance System Solutions company email account was investigated by the Integrity Commission, which cleared him of misusing information related to his portfolio or breaching the ministerial code of conduct.
However, Mr Brooks was found to have breached a protocol established by the former premier by maintaining an involvement in Maintenance System Solutions, and that he had failed to "accurately inform" Will Hodgman about his work with the business.
He was also found to have "double deleted" relevant emails — partly out of personal issues, but also out of political concern, the Integrity Commission found.
After a period of sick leave Mr Brooks resigned and has always maintained he did nothing wrong and no further action was taken.
Mr Brooks was elected Treasurer of the Liberal Party at its annual conference in December.
The Labor Party has also had candidate woes.
State party president Ben McGregor resigned his candidacy for the seat of Clark over two text messages sent seven years ago, while Franklin candidate Fabiano Cangelosi has been outspoken against what he described as the party's "wholly repugnant" stance on poker machines and protests.
