One Nation Victoria has disendorsed a candidate whose private social media account described Adolf Hitler as the “GOAT” and claimed that “importing Islam is making pedophilia legal”.
In a now-deleted social media post, the party’s candidate for Preston, Franco Guardiani, commented on a social media post on X asking people to: “Describe Hitler in one word? Be brutally honest.”
Guardiani then replied with the acronym GOAT, which stands for greatest of all time.
The party was made aware of Guardiani’s social media posts on Tuesday morning and disendorsed him a short time later. A party official discussed the posts with Guardiani and confirmed that they were real.
“At a time when Jewish Australians are experiencing unprecedented persecution, we are appalled that these comments have been made,” said the party’s Victorian leader, Warren Pickering.
“As soon as we became aware, we acted. Preston candidate Franco Guardiani is no longer part of our party.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email“Anyone who holds such views is on notice: they do not have a place in One Nation.”
The former candidate’s X account contains several Islamophobic comments including references to bulldozing or setting fire to mosques.
The account has also engaged with posts by the anti-immigrant group Knights Templar International.
In February, the account agreed with a post asking if Australian police should be able to “remove Islamists who pray in public”.
Guardiani confirmed the posts were his when contacted by Guardian Australia.
“I understand where One Nation is going and I still stand by them,” Guardiani said. “I mean, with all the crap that’s going on, I can understand their position. I am a bit disappointed of course, but it’s a fair call by them.”
“I just believe in free speech and I think people should always be able to express their views.”
On Tuesday morning, the Labor MP for Preston and Reservoir, Nathan Lambert, called on One Nation to disendorse Guardiani.
“Of course, there is a place in Victorian politics for traditional conservative concerns about community safety, government expenditure,” Lambert said. “But there is no place for the horrific ideology of the Nazi Party.”
It is unclear how the candidate’s social media history was not detected during candidate selection and vetting processes. The party has claimed to have invested time and money into improving this process.
In Victoria, One Nation candidates must provide their personal social media accounts for vetting. They are also interviewed by a three person selection panel including Pickering and two party officials.
One Nation has disendorsed its candidate for the seat of Melbourne, Matthew Collins, over now-deleted comments on social media regarding a number of issues including sexual consent and pornographic jokes. Collins has apologised for the comments.
