04:52

(Oh, one more post, because I missed this from Naaman Zhou.)

A New South Wales Liberal candidate has disavowed social media posts that expressed support for repealing the right of gay couples to adopt, and warning against Muslim immigration.

Allan Green, the Liberal candidate for Greenway in Sydney’s west, said the posts – which were made when he was a candidate for the Christian Democratic Party – did not reflect his personal views.



In 2012, Green shared a letter written by a Christian pastor to the Sydney Morning Herald that said “the Islamic community has grown to 800,000 in Australia”. “Our national leaders must exercise foresight and act now to keep Australia the way we know it; otherwise who is to say what the result will be in the years to come when the Islamic community has achieved a population growth into millions of residents,” the letter said.



In a post from 2015, Green shared a “Christian values checklist” from the CDP during the 2015 state election.



The checklist listed values such as “stopping taxpayer funding of obscene homosexual Mardi Gras”, “repealing homosexual adoption and refusing homosexual fostering” and “repealing [the] same-sex & defacto relationship register”.



Only the CDP was awarded ticks for all these boxes – with the Liberal party given question marks or crosses.



On Sunday, Green told Guardian Australia he did not personally believe in any of the sentiments expressed.



“I don’t support those comments personally,” he said. “I was a CDP candidate then and I don’t personally hold those viewpoints … In that situation you are tied to the policies of the party. It isn’t necessarily a personal viewpoint. I wish everybody the best. I haven’t got any ill will to anybody.”



He said he supported the policies of Scott Morrison, including on immigration.



“I support the platform of the government. I support the open immigration policy of the Liberal government.”



“Immigration is good for the country, we should share our wealth with the rest of the world,” he added.



Green said the Liberal party was aware that he had been a CDP candidate before he was preselected, and he intended to remain as the candidate.



“They know I was a CDP candidate,” he said. “I don’t support those viewpoints [in the posts]. It was in the process of a campaign and I don’t personally hold those viewpoints.



“I certainly intend to stay as the Liberal candidate. I don’t believe there is any conflict between me and their platform.”