Vandals paint a niqab over a Fijian-Indian Labor candidate’s face in campaign posters – a week after she was cleared of dual citizenship
- Vandals defaced campaign posters of Deakin Labor candidate Shireen Morris
- Images of her face were defaced with black marker to portray wearing a niqab
- Niqab is a garment of clothing that covers the face, used by some Muslim women
Vandals have defaced campaign posters of a Labor candidate in a key Melbourne seat by drawing a niqab over her face.
Multiple posters for Labor candidate Shireen Morris, running in Deakin, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, were defaced with black permanent marker.
The posters had images of Ms Morris, which were vandalised to depict her wearing a niqab. She is not believed to be a Muslim.
The candidate, who is of Fijian-Indian heritage, was cleared earlier this month of having Fijian dual citizenship.
Vandals have defaced campaign posters of a Labor candidate in a key Melbourne seat and have been deemed ‘disgraceful’
Multiple posters for Labor candidate Shireen Morris (pictured), running in Deakin, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, were defaced with black permanent marker
A niqab is a garment of clothing that covers the entire face except the eyes, worn by some Muslim women as part of their religion.
The attack, spotted just days before the federal election, was posted to the Labor politician’s Twitter.
‘Using Islamophobia to try and secure votes … disgraceful,’ Ms Morris wrote.
It’s believed multiple posters scattered throughout the electorate in the city’s outer eastern suburbs have been defaced.
Liberal Michael Sukkar currently holds the now-marginal seat, but Ms Morris won’t be going down without a fight.
He has held the seat since 2013 and Mr Sukkar is expected to narrowly win, despite a 6.4 per cent margin.
The attack, spotted just days before the federal election, was posted to the Labor politician’s Twitter
In the nearby electorate of Chisolm, signs were spotted in Mandarin instructing Chinese voters to vote Liberal and were criticised as ‘misleading’.
Luke Hilakari, the Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary, tweeted an image of the posters in the electorate of Chisholm, claiming the posters had the same font and colours as official voting information from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
He said the posters read ‘the correct way to vote is to put a number 1 next to the Liberals and number every other box’, and appear to be written like an official AEC instruction to voters.
‘This is a rort. The Libs are trying to trick Chinese voters. Morrison’s Libs should never have approved these signs,’ he tweeted on Saturday.
Signs in Mandarin instruct Chinese voters how to vote for The Liberal Party in the electorate of Chisholm