The email from the Marriage Alliance, a group opposing same-sex marriage that launched mid-2015, criticised Labor leader Bill Shorten and urged recipients to donate.



Sports writer Erin Riley was a member of the Liberal Party for one year in 2010 and is a supporter of marriage equality. After receiving the email on Tuesday afternoon, Riley tweeted about it – only to find other people online reporting the same experience.



"We quickly realised that the only thing we all had in common was being a past or present member of the Liberal party," Riley told BuzzFeed News.

"When I got the Marriage Alliance email, it was to my personal email address, which isn't public. I rarely sign up to things with that email address, but it was the one I had associated with the Liberal party. And that was a common thread among the people I spoke to."

BuzzFeed News is aware of at least six people, all current or former Liberal party members, who received the email but never signed up to the Marriage Alliance mailing list.

"The NSW Liberal Party has received numerous complaints regarding an email from the Marriage Alliance and is investigating the matter," a NSW Liberal Party spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.



Jeremy Travers, currently on the executive of the Wollondilly Young Liberals, told BuzzFeed News he had contacted the party with his concerns.