Michelle Milthorpe campaigning in Griffith this week. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
CONTENT WARNING: This story refers to sexual abuse.
Independent candidate for Farrer Michelle Milthorpe has criticised her main by-election opponent One Nation for hiring a man previously convicted of rape, saying the party’s behaviour is out of step with community expectations.
According to Queensland court records, former One Nation advisor Sean David Black was convicted of one count of rape and two counts of assault in 2018.
After serving his jail sentence, he was rehired by the party’s Queensland head office in 2020. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson told Sky News last week she had dismissed him and he no longer had a role in her party.
Ms Milthorpe said his rehiring reflected poorly on the party and contrasted this with her own record of campaigning to improve support for sexual assault victims.
“It is not lost on me that my main opponent’s party is currently in the news for hiring a convicted sex offender,” she said.
“I spent years of my life working with police, the courts and my kids to convict a sex offender. One Nation is hiring them. I think that behaviour is completely out of step with community expectations and if they want to represent this community they have some serious questions to answer.”
One Nation’s Farrer candidate David Farley told Region he did not know Mr Black, was not involved in his recruitment and his employment was a matter for party headquarters.
“[Sean Black] is no longer with One Nation so I don’t know where [Ms Milthorpe] is getting that from. I think a lot of people are jumping on a band wagon,” a One Nation spokesman told Region.
“He was employed with One Nation for ages, and The Australian decided to report a story about it two years after the fact.”
The spokesperson said the minor party had a good record of fighting for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
One Nation and Ms Milthorpe are considered the frontrunners in the by-election race for Farrer – which covers Griffith, Albury and surrounds – to be held on Saturday 9 May. The Liberals, Nationals, Greens and Family First are also contesting the seat.
Before entering politics, Ms Milthorpe campaigned to make the court system better for child victims after finding out two of her daughters were sexually assaulted by a former family friend. After lobbying politicians, the NSW Government invested $64 million in a program allowing child victims to give their evidence remotely in regional areas – so they couldn’t be intimidated by lawyers when on the stand.
She is now calling for that NSW program to be rolled out nationally.
“My children endured any parent’s worst nightmare – and then they relived it during their criminal court case. No child should have to go through that,” she said.
“I saw that child sexual abuse victim-survivors in regional Australia weren’t getting the same access to support that kids in the city were getting, so I advocated for the law to change. I will be eternally grateful to [former] Liberal Premier Dom Perrottet for hearing our story, and committing $64.3 million to expand the Child Sexual Offences Evidence Program.
“Now is the time to make that a national program. If elected, I will act as an MP like I did as a mum: I will not rest until all kids can safely participate in the justice system. I will work with all parties, across all parliaments, to get it done.”
Ms Milthorpe and Mr Farley will be in Griffith, along with the other candidates, at a Q&A forum at the Exies Sports Club on Monday 20 April.
If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available from Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
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