REDLANDS MP Peter Dowling stood defiant on the weekend, staring down allegations his Facebook page was linked to a soft porn site and vowing to continue his run for re-endorsement.
Redland woman Samantha Marshall wrote to Parliamentary Clerk Neil Laurie this month complaining Mr Dowling’s Facebook page linked to another Facebook page called “Hotties”.
The MP, who is seeking pre-selection this Saturday for the seat he has held since 2007, said he had no knowledge of the page, which shows girls wearing bikinis and links to porn videos.
“I did not like the page. I’m not aware of how the page was liked, however as soon as I was made aware of it, I unliked the page,” he said.
“I think I’ve been a victim of ‘Like’ farming which is a phenomenon on Facebook where you ‘like’ harmless sites and beneath the code you are unsuspectingly liking thousands of unrelated pages.
“You can’t see that you have clicked on those pages from your own Facebook account but other people looking at your page can.
“I warn anyone with Facebook to check the veracity and take extreme care when liking a page.
“This is just someone having a go in the lead up to a pre-selection ballot and election campaign.”
The letter, signed by Sam Marshall, said: “This ‘Hotties’ site is full of degrading sexually-orientated photos with highly inappropriate comments of young women.
“It is also linked to other Facebook sites such as ‘Tits and Weed’, which advocates drug use, and is full of photos of scantily-clad young girls and women smoking marijuana, many in sexually compromising positions in those photos.”
Ms Marshall said she filed the complaint because she was “shocked and disgusted when I stumbled across this on his professional Parliamentary work Facebook page where he promotes kids’ schools, charities".
The letter calls for Mr Dowling to stand down while an investigation takes place.
But Mr Laurie told Redland City Bulletin investigating the claims was not in his jurisdiction and there was no suggestion parliamentary resources were used.
On the weekend, Mr Dowling said he was sure he would get the full backing of members from the Redlands branch of the LNP at next Saturday’s plebiscite in Redland Bay.
In a letter to Redlands branch members last week, LNP State Director Brad Henderson said members would be asked to vote “yes” or “no” to whether Mr Dowling should be endorsed by the party.
"Should members decide that (Mr Dowling) not be selected for endorsement, the LNP will re-open nominations in this seat."
Cleveland MP Mark Robinson ruled out his wife Julie nominating for the seat if Mr Dowling was not re-endorsed. He said he and his wife were focused on his 2015 re-election campaign.
Mr Robinson's electorate office manager Mark Neville unsuccessfully nominated as a candidate for pre-selection last month.
Mr Dowling said he had not considered running as an independent candidate.
The 53-year-old and his wife, Helen, were out on the hustings on the weekend meeting residents at Victoria Point Shopping Centre and joining Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie for the launch of the 21st Justices of the Peace Conference in Wellington Point before heading to McDonalds for the McHappy Day to raise funds For Ronald McDonald House and sick kids.