MP Gladys Liu blames 'grubby campaigns' after her election poster was defaced

Federal Member for Chisholm, Gladys Liu, has blamed the "grubby campaigns" of her opponents after an election poster in her southeast Melbourne seat was defaced.

Gladys Liu's campaign poster in south-east Melbourne was defaced. Source: SBS

The poster on the corner of Waverley and Stephensons Roads in Mount Waverley - which has since been replaced - was vandalised with a blue marker over the Chinese Australian candidate’s face.

The text appears to accuse the sitting member of being affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a claim raised since her election in 2019, and one she has denied a number of times.  

In a text message response to SBS Chinese about the incident, Ms Liu said: “I won’t be commenting on my opponents and their grubby campaigns."  

Victoria Police have confirmed that it had not received any report of vandalism.

Local resident Stephanie Lam said Ms Liu’s posters had been targeted a number of times, including an instance when the politician’s eyes and mouth were covered with white tape.   

Gladys Liu's defaced campaign poster had been replaced by 5pm on Wednesday. Source: SBS

Ms Liu was elected to parliament during the 2019 election but has been at the centre of accusations over her connections to China.

During the last election, Labor raised questions over the Hong-Kong born politician's membership to Chinese organisations linked to the CCP.

At the time, Prime Minister Scott Morrison labelled the opposition’s tactics as a “smear” campaign.   

In an interview with SBS Chinese last month, the Mandarin and Cantonese speaking MP said she is ethnically Chinese but acts in the best interest of Australia.   

In that interview, she encouraged listeners to look at her record for the past three years if they still had doubts about her loyalty to Australia.   

Ms Liu also noted that those who had accused her of being “pro-China” were not able to provide evidence.   

She holds the seat by a razor-thin margin of 0.57 per cent or just over 500 votes after she defeated Labor’s Jennifer Yang in 2019.   

Labor views Chisholm as a “must-win” to form a government and is counting on Victorian Trades Hall Council assistant secretary Carina Garland to claim the seat. 

This incident comes amid controversy over an ad campaign by Advance Australia, a conservative lobby group that is accusing the Labor party of being "weak" on China. 

A spokesperson from the Labor Party election campaign told SBS Chinese they would not be commenting on the incident.