Whitsunday MP says he won’t leave parliament after second harassment allegation in past 24 hours

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Queensland state MP Jason Costigan says he won’t quit parliament despite being expelled by the Liberal National party in the wake of a second harassment allegation levelled against him.

The Queensland LNP’s state executive released a statement following a meeting on Friday announcing Costigan, the MP for the seat of Whitsundays, had been expelled from the party.

On Friday, the Queensland opposition leader, Deb Frecklington, revealed the party had received a second complaint about Costigan in the last 24 hours. She would not reveal details of the complaint but said the complaint was “serious”.

She said the decision to expel him from the party was about “values and morals” and called on Costigan to quit the parliament.

“I have high standards for my party,” she said. “I have high standards for my team members. I don’t care about the political cost. This is about protecting young women and victims against predators.”

But on Twitter, Costigan wrote that he would not leave the parliament.

“I will NOT be resigning!” he wrote, alongside the hashtag “costo2020”.

A meeting of the party’s state executive was called after Costigan was earlier suspended from the party after a harassment complaint was lodged against him by a member of the public.

The party’s state executive agreed unanimously to expel Costigan from the party.

“The LNP fully recognises the significance of this action, and understands that removing a sitting MP will make the challenge of winning the next state election more difficult,” the interim LNP state president, Dave Hutchinson, said in a statement.

“However, we expect our elected representatives to meet the highest possible standards. Our priority will always be ensuring that we have the right people representing the LNP in parliament, regardless of the political cost.”

Frecklington had earlier revealed she had referred the first complaint to the police.

“The complaint made against Mr Costigan is serious and it relates to his conduct towards a young woman whilst he was on holidays,” she said on Thursday. “The complaint has been investigated by the LNP disputes committee.

“They have found that Mr Costigan has breached sections of the party constitution that will bring the party into disrepute.”

Costigan held an extraordinary press conference on Thursday in which he admitted meeting the woman but denied any wrongdoing and threatened legal action. He said that he had been invited to stay at a home belonging to the grandparents of the woman at the centre of the complaint while on holidays.

“I had no shirt on and almost straight away after introducing myself, she didn’t expect me to be there and I didn’t expect anyone to turn up, I went and put one of my favourite Cowboys jerseys on,” he said. “Nothing bad happened, nothing sinister happened.

“Yeah, we took some selfies. How many of you people know I love a selfie? I love a photo, you all know that ... [I] put the old arm around. She didn’t look anything in terms of intimidation, or concern or worry.

“She was happy as Larry from my recollection.”

He said he had consulted a defamation lawyer.

“These are baseless allegations and we will be pursuing the matter through the courts like there is no tomorrow,” Costigan said.