By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
CASEY councillor Rosalie Crestani was formally endorsed yesterday as a candidate for the Rise Up Australia Party in November’s State Election.
The Four Oaks councillor will be standing as the hard-right Christian party’s number two behind pastor Danny Nalliah in the upper house for the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region of Victoria.
Wednesday’s announcement makes Cr Crestani the fourth Casey councillor to be selected as a candidate in the State Election, with mayor Geoff Ablett, deputy mayor Amanda Stapledon and Cr Susan Serey running for the Liberal Party in the seats of Cranbourne, Narre Warren North and Narre Warren South respectively.
According to media reports, Rise Up Australia president and controversial Catch the Fire Ministries pastor Nalliah said he had spoken to the Victorian Liberal Party and suspended Frankston MP Geoff Shaw recently about guaranteeing preference deals ahead of the election.
But the Multicultural Affairs Minister Matthew Guy has today denied the claims, saying there had been no discussions about preferences between Rise Up Australia and a Liberal executive.
Mr Nalliah has said Rise Up Australia will be fielding candidates in every Upper House district and will also be contesting every marginal Lower House seat at the State poll.
The Rise Up Australia party – which uses the primary slogan, ‘Keep Australia Australian’- wants to remove the word multiculturalism from political debate and replace it with “multi-ethnic”, and Pastor Danny has previously claimed the Black Saturday fires were possibly due to God’s vengeance against Victoria’s abortion laws.
