Australian politician Anthony Antoniadis apologises for insulting would-be constituents in series of Facebook posts
Liberal candidate for next month’s South Australian election criticised “dress sense, hygiene and work ethic” of the people he now hopes will vote for him
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A politician in Australia has been forced to apologise after Facebook posts emerged in which he insulted his would-be constituents.
Anthony Antoniadis runs a newsagents in Salisbury, South Australia, and is running for the Adelaide seat in next month’s elections on the back of his “strong business ties to the electorate of Ramsay”, according to his profile on the Liberal party’s website.
Yet a series of comments have emerged on Facebook, which he has admitted to posting, that appear to mock the personal hygiene and work ethic of his customers and other local residents.
According to ABC News reports, Labor said the string of “offensive” comments meant Mr Antoniadis should be dropped by his party. In one he wrote: “Mmmm, yum!!! I love it when I can smell customers from 10 meters away!”
In another he said: “If only the people standing infront of centrelink at 8am would wake up early enough to get a job ... perhaps they wouldn’t be there in the first place!”
In his profile on the Liberal Party's website, it says Mr Antoniadis “meets with community members on a regular basis to hear about their concerns”, and is “passionate about seeing greater education and employment prospects for residents in his electorate”.
Labor frontbencher Tom Koutsantonis told ABC that state Liberal leader Steven Marshall needed to act decisively.
“It is not good enough for a leader to stand by and watch his hand-picked candidate say these things about the people he chooses to represent,” he said.
The Liberal Party issued a statement saying Mr Antoniadis had been “counselled against the comments that he’s made” and that the issue had now been dealt with.
For his own part, the candidate told ABC: “Look, I apologise for comments I made on Facebook. They were made four years ago.”
He added that he had no further comment to add to the party statement.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments