Victorian Liberals ‘colonised by the far right’ says Labor MP

Victorian Labor MP Martin Pakula has accused the Victorian Liberal Party of being ‘colonised by the far right’ in a tweet slamming Liberal candidate Michael Piastrino.

Piastrino, who is competing in Dan Andrews’ seat of Mulgrave in next month’s state election, stirred controversy in an interview with independent journalist Rukshan Fernando, saying Andrews “will be brought to justice for the murder of 800 people”.

Snippet of my interview with Michael Paistrino, Liberal Party candidate for Mulgrave. I’ll also be speaking to other candidates going up against Dan Andrews in November. Dan will be sent an invite for an interview also, but someone told me he is hardly in Mulgrave. pic.twitter.com/vOkzR1LGy0

— Rukshan Fernando (@therealrukshan) October 16, 2022

His comments, in reference to the deaths which occured after Covid-19 leaked out of hotel quarantine, met swift condemnation from politicians and commentators in the media with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell saying the claim was “totally unacceptable”.

But Pakula’s comments also created a stir on social media, with the Labor MP saying the Liberals comprised of “people who’ve been marinating in Sky After Dark extremism and anti vax / conspiracy lunacy”.

He went on to take aim at Ferndando, a popular target of far left pundits, questioning why Piastrino would even allow himself to be interviewed by Fernando.

Too bad we don’t live in communist China, Martin—as much as Labor’s tried to sell us out.

You and Dan don’t get to dictate the media landscape and/or who politicians answer questions from.

— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) October 17, 2022

Pakula’s spray raised eyebrows on Twitter with many quick to point out that the more common criticism of the Victorian Liberals is that they’ve shifted further to the left side of politics, than a push to the right.

The Victorian Liberal Party quickly went into damage control, issuing a statement on Mr Piastrino’s behalf, saying: “I wish to apologise for the inappropriate language I used in an interview over the weekend.”

Opposition leader Matt Guy added “He’s apologised for it and I think that was the right thing to do” while Andrews brushed off the comments by saying “He’s completely irrelevant to the work that I’m doing, keeping Victorians safe. His politics are for him.”