The United Australia Party has stood by Hawke candidate Andrew Cuthbertson following reports he spread pro-Russian propaganda on social media.
Mr Cuthbertson reportedly tweeted “several times” about false claims Russia has used to justify its invasion, which suggested the United States had biological research labs in Ukraine.
On March 9, Mr Cuthbertson quote-tweeted alt-right American commentator Jack Posobiec and questioned why there were US facilities in the war-torn country.
He also retweeted a video posted by the Chinese government which claims a “large quantity of dangerous viruses are stored” in the US labs.
“Russia has found, during its military operations, that the US uses these facilities to conduct military plans,” the video claims.
Mr Cuthbertson described his retweets as “completely innocent” and did not regret liking any tweets related to the media “bombardment” of the war, which overshadowed “hundreds of thousands of vaccine deaths”.
“I stand by that,” he said.
The controversy around Mr Cuthbertson’s social media comes after the disendorsement of UAP’s former Macnamara candidate Jefferson Earl earlier this year for his pro-Vladimir Putin stance.
A UAP spokesperson defended Mr Cuthbertson’s social media activity and said retweeting or liking posts did not equate to supporting them.
“He’s certainly not endorsing Ukraine or Russia, he wants peaceful resolution in the world full stop,” the spokesperson said.
