Mark Parton, a Liberal MP who serves in the ACT parliament, has apologised for describing a Greens candidate at the upcoming territory election as “too camp”.
The serving MP told Jonathan Davis that he was “too camp for Tuggeranong” when the two met on the campaign trail over the weekend.
Davis told The Canberra Times that he didn’t think Parton was homophobic, but was surprised that Parton thought his sexuality should be an issue in the election campaign.
“Mark and I have got to know each other quite well over the years and we were having an honest back-and-forth conversation,” Mr Davis said. “He made the comment that while I’m a nice bloke I probably wouldn’t win because I’m too camp for Tuggeranong.”
While he initially brushed off the incident, Davis decided to speak up after is Facebook page started receiving homophobic comments from a personal account featured Liberal party branding. The same account has also been attacking Labor candidates. The Liberal party has distanced themselves from the account.
Davis said he was speaking up because he wanted to highlight that LGBTI people still face stigma and disparaging comments. He said the comments from Mark Parton showed he had a lack of insight as to how tolerant and socially progressive voters in Canberra’s south were.
The ACT election is being held on 17th October.
Who is Mark Parton?
Mark Parton is a former radio announcer who spent almost two decades on Canberra’s airwaves before making the move to politics. He was elected at the 2016 ACT election and holds the seat of Brindabella.
He is the Shadow Minister for Housing, Planning and Racing and Gaming in the Australian Capital Territory. He has previously spoken about his own gambling addiction.
Back in July he was kicked out of the ACT assembly after he refused to delete a video he posted to social media app TikTok. His video included a short piece of footage the was shot inside parliament – which is in breach of the rules. He later made a second TikTok video which criticised the speaker. He was not allowed back into the chamber until both videos were deleted.
OIP Staff
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