UAP’s Yodie Batzke says in election campaign material she is ‘adjunct lecturer’ at James Cook University

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

James Cook University says one of Clive Palmer’s prominent Senate candidates does not work there despite her claiming to be an “adjunct lecturer” at its Cairns campus.

“Yodie Batzke has delivered guest lectures at JCU but is not an adjunct lecturer at JCU,” a university spokesman said.

Batzke, who is running alongside Palmer on the United Australia party’s Queensland ticket, has claimed in campaign material that she is an academic working at the university’s Centre for Tropical Urban and Regional Planning.

But JCU says it has no record of her holding such a role. It is now attempting to contact Batzke and the UAP to have them “correct her website and other election materials”.

Guardian Australia also sought clarification from the UAP and Batzke but neither responded to requests for comment. Batzke appears nowhere in the university’s staff directory.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Yodie Batzke’s profile on the United Australia party website

The UAP has continued its saturation advertising campaign on Monday, buying full-page ads in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Canberra Times and the Hobart Mercury, among others, and continuing to blitz social media.

The party has polled at between 4% and 5% in Newspolls, following an estimated $60m spend on advertising. Batzke has been a prominent face in the party’s ad campaign, appearing in newspaper, social media and television advertising.

UAP candidates have been dogged by controversies throughout the campaign. About 19 are under an eligibility cloud owing to dual citizenship – including Batzke.

Batzke – a pastor and staunch opponent of abortion – was also revealed to have posted pictures of a pregnant woman with a noose around her belly on Facebook, before deleting the post.

Another UAP candidate, Alexander Stewart, was criticised for a post questioning immunisation. He falsely claimed that the evidence of vaccines’ benefits did not outweigh the risks to children.

The party is running candidates in every lower house seat in the country. For the Senate, where it is most likely to win a seat, it is running in all states and territories.

But many of its candidates have little connection to the seats they are vying for.

Guardian Australia has previously revealed that 40% do not live in the seats in which they are standing. Two who live in Cairns are running for seats in Sydney and southern New South Wales. In other cases, some Senate candidates do not actually live in the states and territories they are seeking to represent.