Liberal Party sends mass email falsely claiming ex-branch member is ‘deceased’
The Victorian Liberal Party has been forced to make a U-turn after falsely announcing the death of an ex-member – who now may defect to One Nation.
An ex-member of the Victorian Liberals was forced declare himself alive after the state branch sent a mass email falsely claiming he had died.
The ABC reported the Victorian Liberal Party sent a mass email on Tuesday evening with the subject line: “Deceased Member” in reference to John Ternel.
The email read: “We have been informed that Mr John Ternel has sadly passed away and is no longer a member of the Narre Warren / Endeavour Hills Branch, Narre Warren North SEC, Bruce FEC.”
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“Our deepest condolences go out to John’s family,” it said.
That same evening, the Victorian Liberal Party then reportedly issued a retraction titled a “Correction Notice” and apologised to Mr Ternel for the mistake.
But Mr Ternel later took to his personal Facebook page on Wednesday morning to write: “Reports of my death, following my resignation from the Liberal Party, are not true”.
A southeast Melbourne local, Mr Ternel has lived in the Casey City for about five decades. He had previously made an unsuccessful bid to be preselected as a Liberal candidate.
Mr Ternel told the ABC the mistaken email reflected his overall disillusionment with the conservative party.
“When I first started, it was about Menzies and Menzies values,” he said.
“They’ve lost their direction and focus. There’s a lot of confusion. Who are we? Who do we stand for?”
A comment on Mr Ternel’s Facebook post was written by Liberal-turned-One-Nation member Michael Piastrino. He wrote: “Your orange tshirt is waiting for you”.
One Nation rolled out a national branch network in April after a summer of record-high polling. It is part of the far-right party’s intensified efforts to turn this popularity with conservative Australians into state and federal representation.
The Victorian Liberal Party has been contacted for comment.
Originally published as Liberal Party sends mass email falsely claiming ex-branch member is ‘deceased’
