This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A Liberal senator is being promoted as the headline speaker for a group that wants to ban all mosques, has described Islam as a “destroyer of multi culturalism, diversity, democracy and liberty” and linked fires at European churches to the “immigration of incompatible people”.

The Queensland senator Amanda Stoker is billed as the guest speaker at Sunday’s forum organised by the Sunshine Coast Safe Communities group, an outfit that opposes mosque developments and frequently airs anti-Islamic views.

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Last year, in a Facebook post criticising a Queensland grants program designed to support refugees, it commented:“It is time they realised Islam is the destroyer of multi culturalism [sic], diversity, democracy, and liberty, yet they use it cunningly to shame an unwitting host. The evidence is to be seen in every Islamic ruled Nation. Wake up to the dangers of the one that kills.”

A Facebook ad used by the group to promote Amanda Stoker’s speech. Photograph: Facebook

The group has argued that Halal certification has a “huge capacity to contribute to Islamic extremism, and terrorism”, and called for a ban on all mosques in Queensland. It was vociferous in its opposition to a planned Sunshine Coast mosque, and reportedly stated on its website at the time that “the mosque-invaded community becomes more vulnerable to the demands of Islamic exceptionalism”.

Stoker’s speech at the Safe Communities event, to be held at the Maroochydore surf lifesaving club, was titled “Marxism disguised as Socialism”.

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A spokeswoman for Stoker told Guardian Australia late on Friday the senator would not be attending the event. She would not say whether Stoker had pulled out following Guardian Australia’s questions.

Later in the evening the group posted on Facebook that Stoker had cancelled her appearance “with no voice and the flu”.

“Sorry to hear this as Amanda is a great speaker.”

The Safe Communities group had paid to spruik the attendance of the Liberal senator, funding a Facebook ad to push previews of the event into the feeds of users. It is unclear how far that ad has been spread or how much it cost.

A screenshot of the Sunshine Coast Safe Communities page. This post, published late last year, criticised grants designed to support refugees. Photograph: Facebook

The group’s last paid ad linked the burning of churches in Europe to the “immigration of incompatible people”.

The group’s president, Chas Gullo, denied it was “anti-Islam per se”.

“As a multi-issue group SCSC critiques or supports a wide variety of issues,” Gullo said in a statement. “We choose not to avoid the hard topics so after the tragic shootings of Muslims in New Zealand, the burning of multiple churches in Europe and deaths of Christians in Sri Lanka, extreme Islam has become a recent much-debated topic. We do not resile from being Islam critical at those times.”

The event comes at a sensitive time for the Liberals. It has already disendorsed two candidates for expressing anti-Islamic rhetoric, Jessica Whelan, the candidate for Lyons, and Jeremy Hearn, the candidate for Isaacs.

The Liberals are also dealing with revelations about interactions between elements of the party and the far right.

Stoker entered parliament early last year as a replacement for the former attorney-general George Brandis. She is not up for election this year.

Guardian Australia detected Stoker’s speech through its project to track election advertising on Facebook. Such advertising is often difficult to monitor, because it generally appears only to those being deliberately targeted, or those who know where to look.