Man charged over Nova Peris Facebook posts 'expelled from Liberal Party'

A NSW man has been charged for allegedly posting racist comments on Nova Peris' Facebok page has reportedly been kicked out of the Liberal party.

Nova Peris

"No one should judge me": Nova Peris. Source: AAP

A man who allegedly posted expletive-ridden racist tirade on the Facebook page of outgoing senator Nova Peris has reportedly been kicked out of the Liberal party.

Fairfax Media has reported 64-year-old chiropractor Chris Nelson from the NSW Central Coast was expelled from the party after being an active member of his local branch for nearly a decade.

Mr Nelson was arrested at a business on Victoria Road in Woy Woy on Monday afternoon and charged with using a carriage service to cause offence.

He has been granted conditional bail to appear on Gosford Local Court on June 21.

Mr Nelson has insisted his Facebook page was hacked.

The outgoing Indigenous senator recently announced she would not recontest her senate seat at the coming election on July 2.

The racist post, which compared Ms Peris to a “wichity (sic) grub”, told her to “go back to the bush”, and accused her of “painting her face white” for Parliament, attracted backlash online.

Ms Peris responded by calling the post racist and was widely applauded for standing up to the poster's racist abuse.
racist troll
Racist troll attacking Senator Peris. Source: Facebook
Mr Nelson was also a former member of Rotary and a Twitter page connected to the organisation has tweeted an apology to the senator and distanced themselves from him.

The page said the man left the organisation four years ago.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten tweeted his support for the outgoing senator.
Senator Peris who last week announced her resignation said she had never envisaged being a career politician and decided to quit at the July 2 election after talking to her family.

"As the first Aboriginal female in federal politics ... I certainly had challenges, but none that I couldn't handle or was not prepared for, having already lived a very public and documented life," she said in a statement on Tuesday.

Her replacement is journalist Malarndirri McCarthy, who represented Arnhem in the NT Assembly from 2005 to 2012.

Ms McCarthy achieved almost 74 per cent of the two-party preferred vote at the 2005 election and was appointed families minister.

Senator Peris became Australia's first female indigenous federal politician in 2013 after a controversial call by then prime minister Julia Gillard.

The "captain's pick" was derided as paternalistic and tokenistic, and elbowed out veteran senator Trish Crossin.

Senator Peris won Olympic gold playing hockey for Australia in 1996 at the Atlanta games.

The AFL said a number of "high-quality candidates" had put their hands up for the diversity role.

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Source: AAP, SBS News


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Man charged over Nova Peris Facebook posts 'expelled from Liberal Party' | SBS News