Corruption watchdog bites back at claims of candidate investigation in dirty tricks campaign
The national corruption watchdog has warned against claims that a key Labor candidate is under investigation, making a rare intervention in a growing dispute in one of the dirtiest campaigns of the election.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) issued the warning after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and independent MP Dai Le raised concerns about Labor candidate Tu Le, who is seeking to reclaim the marginal western Sydney seat of Fowler for the government.
The move follows a separate dispute involving the Liberal candidate for the seat, Vivek Singha, over social media posts he made that denigrated Indigenous Australians, prompting Labor to call on Dai Le to urge her supporters to put him last on their ballot papers.
Labor lost Fowler to the independent MP at the last election, but is hoping to reverse that outcome on Saturday because it only lost by 2800 votes three years ago.
Some Liberal volunteers appear to be handing out how-to-vote cards for Dai Le, according to photographs and internal party messages seen by this masthead, but her supporters insisted on Tuesday that she did not favour either of the major parties.
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The Liberal volunteers include members of the Young Liberals and one member of the party's supporters at the University of NSW, according to messages exchanged on a group chat and photographs of volunteers at early voting centres.
Dai Le was a local councillor and a member of the Liberal Party after a career as an ABC journalist, but she was suspended from the party in 2016 – and has formally severed ties – after she ran on an independent ticket for Fairfield Council.
Her husband, Markus Lambert, who was also a former member of the party, rejected any suggestion that the independent MP's campaign was being helped by Liberals.
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