A recording of comments made by the Liberal candidate for the Victorian seat of Chisholm appearing to describe LGBTI issues as "ridiculous rubbish" has emerged after she claimed on Sunday that stories about it were "fake news" and not representative of her own views.

Key points: Gladys Liu says the reports took her interview out of context, misrepresenting her views

Gladys Liu says the reports took her interview out of context, misrepresenting her views The Guardian has responded to the ABC saying that it stands by the 2016 article

The Guardian has responded to the ABC saying that it stands by the 2016 article Ms Liu defended herself, saying that she was conveying the views of the Chinese community

The recording, obtained by the ABC, comes from an interview reported in the Guardian in 2016 when Gladys Liu was working on the campaign of then Liberal candidate for the seat Julia Banks, who resigned last year citing bullying within the Liberal Party.

It emerged on the same day Prime Minister Scott Morrison was in Chisholm for Ms Liu's campaign launch.

Gladys Liu launched her campaign with PM Scott Morrison in Box Hill on Monday. ( ABC News: Marco Catalano )

In the recording Ms Liu was asked about the Safe Schools program, which she has campaigned against, as well as about same-sex marriage, both of which were significant political issues in 2016.

"A lot of parents don't agree with letting boys go into a girls' toilet," she said.

"They strongly opposed the Safe Schools program. Cross-dressing and transgender — it is something they found difficult to accept. Chinese believe same-sex [marriage] is against normal practice," Ms Liu was quoted as saying.

"Chinese people come to Australia because they want good … things for the next generation, not to be destroyed — they use the word destroyed — [by] same-sex, transgender, intergender. All this rubbish. To them, they are just ridiculous rubbish."

Ms Liu was quoted as saying that Chinese people believe same-sex marriage "is against normal practice". ( ABC News: Marco Catalano )

On Sunday, at a candidates forum featuring Ms Liu and her Labor opponent for the marginal seat, Jennifer Yang, Ms Liu was asked specifically about the comments by an audience member, which the ABC caught on camera.

She defended the comments as being representative of the Chinese community, not her own views.

"I was interviewed and at the time I wasn't a candidate and I didn't know I had to tape my speech or recording the interview of what happened — it was fake news, it was misrepresented," she said.

"I was asked about what I had heard from the Chinese community, and I told the person who interviewed me what I heard."

She has made similar claims in other recent media reports when asked about the comments.

The journalist who wrote the original Guardian story, Doug Hendrie, told the ABC after he heard Ms Liu's comments about fake news and misrepresentation that he went through his notes and listened to the recording of the interview again.

Scott Morrison appeared at Ms Liu's campaign launch to support the Liberal candidate for Chisholm. ( ABC News: Marco Catalano )

"I listened to it and it's still as described in the article," he said.

"I think her argument was she was merely the conduit [of the Chinese community's sentiments], but the fact that she said 'all this rubbish, all this ridiculous rubbish,' those are her own words."

"I can understand why Ms Liu would want to reject it as 'fake news', but I've checked the recording. It's accurate and I represented her views as she put them."

When contacted for comment the Guardian Australia told the ABC the publication stood by the story and it later published its own follow-up.

Comment has been sought from Ms Liu repeatedly but she had not responded at the time of publishing.

Her opponent Labor candidate, Ms Yang, told the ABC that the behaviour was "appalling" and "hurt a vulnerable group of people in our community".

"Gladys Liu and Scott Morrison cannot pretend now she did not say or do these things," she said.

"The people of Chisholm deserve to know what kind of person the Liberals want them to vote for."

Additional reporting by Jason Fang