By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A state political candidate has accused a Casey councillor of ‘trolling’ him and reported their offending comments to Facebook.
Gary Maas, who is running for the ALP in Narre Warren South, reported persistent, repetitive comments from ‘Misa Frances Quinzel’ on 15 posts by Mr Maas’s Facebook page.
Frances Quinzel is the name of a DC Comics anti-hero, also known as Harley Quinn.
The account, until recently, appeared to use a profile picture of Casey councillor Milla Gilic. It has been replaced by an image of a character from the Kill Bill movie series.
Cr Gilic has not responded to Star News’s enquiries on the matter.
The comments attacked Mr Maas for his recent criticism of Liberal political rival Susan Serey as well as his ‘local’ credentials.
“Just be honest and see how you fare, it would be pathetic to run your campaign on some fake agenda, seems like that’s how you’re gonna go about this though… it’s sad, our community deserves better, a lot better.
“If you think you can move down here and play the act needed to get the votes then you aren’t giving our residents enough credit, we do pay attention to our community and what goes on within it.
“How many years have you lived in ‘Our Community’ anyhow?”
At one point, the comments state: “I guess we can only hope you’ll be honest and forward about this.”
Mr Maas says he woke up one morning to find up to 15 notifications of Quinzel’s comments.
“When I had a look, it was the same (comment) over and over again infecting every single post on my page.”
He reported the “abusive” comments because they breached Facebook’s guidelines for ‘hate speech’ and not using an authentic identity.
“If you actually want to enter into a proper political debate, I’ll reply. But I’m not going to when it’s an obviously fake account – and particularly if you’re being rude and nasty.
“You wouldn’t do that face-to-face so why should you be able to do that online?”
Mr Maas called on Cr Gilic to declare if she was a Liberal Party member to her electors.
“She has … misrepresented her identity through her Facebook profile in making continued and persistent political and personal attacks against me and now my campaign team.
“I wonder what social media policies are in place at the City of Casey, if its elected representatives can repeatedly bully candidates and indeed other residents of the City of Casey.”
Mr Maas called on Liberal candidate and Casey councillor Susan Serey to declare her stance on her “friend” Cr Gilic’s alleged conduct.
Ms Serey said the “content and management of Mr Maas’s Facebook page are clearly a matter for him”.
“However I regularly block and hide abusive and sexist comments from Labor members and trolls.
“I’m focusing on the Liberals policies to fix the rise of violent crime in Casey, reduce cost of living pressures and ease traffic congestion (rather than being) worried about Mr Maas’ Facebook page.”
Mr Maas said that he is renting in City of Casey, with a view to moving permanently to the area if he wins a seat at this year’s State Election.
