Young Libs suspended over lewd comments
Four members of NSW's Young Liberals have been suspended after they made derogatory comments about women on social media.
The four men used dating app Tinder to connect with women they hoped to persuade to vote Liberal and then made sexually explicit comments about a woman on a closed Facebook group.
The comments were made about a year ago.
The four on Friday received the maximum available penalty and were suspended for six months after Liberal Party officials were alerted to the chat by The Sun-Herald.
They may be expelled from the party, according to Sydney's Sun-Herald.
In one instance, one of the Young Liberals reportedly posted a photo of a woman he was chatting with on Tinder, describing her as a "potato".
"A potato that can vote," the Young Liberal reportedly wrote.
"Then root and boot her and leave some HTVs (how to vote cards). ... I could go some fries right now."
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the comments shouldn't be tolerated and was glad such "decisive action" to suspend them was taken.
"All of us need to stand up and take action against anything derogatory said or acted against women," she told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.
The NSW Liberal Party leader disagreed with claims the incident indicates her party has a problem with women.
Instead, she said it showed society had a problem with how it speaks about and treats women.
"This is not a problem or challenge isolated to one or two political parties, this is an inherent social problem that we have," Ms Berejiklian said.
The Liberal Party has recently copped criticism for not women treating well and having a "female problem".
"People already think we don't treat women fairly. They will just look at this and say 'see, you don't'," a senior Liberal source told the Sun-Herald.
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