REDLANDS MP Peter Dowling has taken down his Facebook Page, two weeks after an official complaint it was linked to porn websites.
Mr Dowling said the page was removed because he had “more pressing issues” to deal with in the run-up to Saturday’s pre-selection ballot.
"My recent encounter with Facebook and the ‘Like Farming’ I believe I experienced was the final straw for me," he said.
He said the LNP did not ask him to take the page down.
On Saturday, the Redlands branch of the LNP will vote on whether Mr Dowling should be re-endorsed as the party’s candidate at the next election, likely to be held in March.
Saturday’s vote will require a majority, unlike a party decision on October 3, where it was enough for Mr Dowling to proceed for pre-selection with only votes from seven of the LNP’s 28 executive members.
Party chairman Bruce McIver will address the branch’s members before Mr Dowling and the branch chairman Lance Hewlett.
Members can then ask Mr Dowling questions about why he should proceed as the LNP candidate for the seat.
“I’m only going to concentrate on the positives but, I guess there is a chance someone may ask about the Facebook farming incident,” he said.
“I believe I have the full support of my branch members.”
The seat has been the focus of claims of branch stacking and a rift between Mr Dowling’s faction and that of older, more conservative, members.
The ballot will be held in the wake of Moggill branch members voting against the party executive decision to ditch sitting member Bruce Flegg and run Dr Christian Rowan in the western suburbs seat.
The vote forced the party to reopen pre-selection for the seat, for which Dr Flegg said he would renominate.
Last night, the former arts minister Ros Bates convinced her branch members to let her recontest her seat of Mudgeeraba.
Ms Bates was also called before the executive to argue why she should be pre-selected after she resigned as minister last year following criticism about alleged nepotism, her contact with lobbyists and the amount of leave she had taken.