Key points
- Victorian Liberal candidate Timothy Dragan said that Australia should not recognise First Nations people because “we won this land”.
- State Liberal leader Matthew Guy said the comments were “disrespectful”.
- The Labor candidate for the seat Belinda Wilson labelled the comments “frightening”.
A Victorian Liberal candidate’s comments that Australia should not recognise First Nations people because “we won this land fair and square” have been criticised by his party leader and the opposition, though Liberal leader Matthew Guy says he stands by his candidate and an apology is enough.
Timothy Dragan, the Liberal candidate for Narre Warren North in Melbourne’s rapidly growing outer southwest suburbs, also spoke out against abortion and climate change, saying “the earth has never been greener”.
In the audio recorded last week and leaked to The Sunday Age, Mr Dragan declared it would be “bollocks” to give the land back to Indigenous Australians.
“We won this land fair and square.
“It’s like telling Britain to give the land back to the Vikings, and the Vikings to give it back to the Romans. And same with Romania — to give Transylvania back to the Hungarians. I mean, come on man, it’s bollocks. It’s absolute bollocks.”
On abortion, the son of Romanian migrants said if it was wrong to murder an adult human, it made sense that murdering an unborn child was also wrong.
“Where’s the consistency with the argument? Why is the passage through the vagina the reason why you can or can’t murder a human? What makes a vagina’s trajectory so special? Does it give it a magical dignity?” he said.
The Liberal candidate also works as a recruitment consultant and spoke out against climate change policy.
“The earth is greener than it’s ever been because of the carbon dioxide because it’s plant food. So my solution isn’t cutting and killing people’s businesses; it’s actually planting more trees.”
In a statement released afterwards by the Liberal Party, Mr Dragan said he “unreservedly apologise[s] for my insensitive and inappropriate language”, adding that his comments did not reflect the views or policy positions of the party, The Age reported.
‘Not alone for making silly comments’
When asked about Mr Dragan’s comments on Sunday, Victorian Liberal leader Mathew Guy described them as “disrespectful”.
But he said an apology was enough and that he would stand by his candidate.
“Lots of people have different points of view. And if people express a different point of view respectfully and sensibly, then that’s up to them to do so,” he said.
“It was disrespectful, I’ve asked for an apology, and we got it.”
Mr Guy added that Mr Dragan wasn’t the first to make “silly comments”.
“He’s apologised for the ones he made … I think that’s fair and reasonable.”
Victoran Liberal leader Mathew Guy said he stands by candidate Timothy Dragan, despite his controversial comments. Source: AAP / DIEGO FEDELE/AAPIMAGE
Labor candidate ‘mortified’ by comments
When speaking to the media on Sunday, Premier Daniel Andrews chose not to address Mr Dragan’s comments directly, saying he was not focused on the Liberal Party.
Instead, he referred questions about them to Labor’s candidate for Narre Warren North Belinda Wilson, who was by his side at the press conference.
Ms Wilson said she felt “mortified” by the comments.
“As a mother and a woman, I was mortified to read what I read in the paper this morning and to have to have a conversation with my three kids that someone actually believes that stuff, is actually frightening.”
Social media was also full of angry reaction to Mr Dragan’s comments on Sunday, which were labelled “disgusting”.
The first Aboriginal Labor Senator for Victoria Jana Stewart said it was the comments were “disgusting”.
“It’s hard to read these quotes and not feel sick,” she said on Twitter.
“I feel for all the candidates and volunteers that have to listen to this garbage.”
Who is Timothy Dragan?
Labor holds Narre Warren North on a notional margin of 10.4 per cent, based on the results of the 2018 election. Labor MP Luke Donnellan has held the seat since 2002 but is now retiring, with Labor fearing it may lose the outer-suburban seat.
Mr Dragan describes himself as “a true local” who was born at Dandenong Hospital and raised in the electorate.
A child of migrants from Romania, he says his family instilled in him “family values, faith, a strong work ethic, integrity and dignity, and a heart for serving others”.
He also says he wants to represent “the forgotten people; the battlers; the quiet Australians”.
More controversies for Victorian Liberals
The Victorian Liberal Party is also embroiled over upper house hopeful Renee Heath after it was revealed she was a member of the controversial City Builder’s Church.
The church has been accused of promoting gay-conversion therapy and being opposed to gay, transgender and reproductive rights.
The repeated setbacks could hurt the coalition at next week’s election, with opinion polls predicting Mr Andrews’s government will secure a third consecutive term.
SBS news contacted Mr Dragan for comment.
