The high-profile Liberal Party candidate who rolled Bronwyn Bishop had described asylum seekers who came to Australia by boat as the victims of pirates and crooks and said they should be welcomed rather than shunned.

Jason Falinski, who won Liberal pre-selection to replace Mrs Bishop as the party's candidate for the blue-ribbon Sydney seat of Mackellar last month, wrote an opinion piece advocating in favour of "freeing up borders".

The Liberal member for Mackellar, Jason Falinksi. Credit:Christopher Pearce

In The Australian Financial Review article published in May 2001 and co-authored by barrister and former Liberal adviser Greg Barns, Mr Falinski wrote Australia needed a larger, more liberal immigration program.

He took aim at then-immigration minister Philip Ruddock, who was preparing to tighten the definition of what was a refugee, and criticised the country's political leaders for pandering to "xenophobic tendencies".