One Nation Victoria has disendorsed a candidate whose private social media account described Adolf Hitler as the “GOAT” and claimed that “importing Islam is making pedophilia legal”.
In a now deleted social media post, the party’s candidate for Preston, Franco Guardiani, commented on a social media post on X asking people to: “Describe Hitler in one word? Be brutally honest”.
Guardiani then replied with the acronym GOAT, which stands for greatest of all time.
The party was made aware of Guardiani’s social media posts on Tuesday morning and disendorsed him a short time later. A party official discussed the posts with Guardiani and confirmed they were real.
“At a time when Jewish Australians are experiencing unprecedented persecution, we are appalled that these comments have been made,” said the party’s Victorian leader, Warren Pickering.
“As soon as we became aware, we acted. Preston candidate Franco Guardiani is no longer part of our party.
“Anyone who holds such views is on notice: they do not have a place in One Nation.”
The former candidate’s X account contains several Islamophobic comments including references to bulldozing or setting fire to mosques.
The account has also engaged with posts by the anti-immigrant group Kights Templar International.
It is unclear how the candidate’s social media history was not detected during candidate selection and vetting processes. The party has claimed to have invested time and money into improving this process.
Guardiani is no longer listed as a One Nation candidate on the party’s official website.
Guardiani has been contacted for comment.
