Fake Islamic Leaflet Distributed By Australian Liberals Asks For Bombing Forgiveness

by Rob Walker | November 22, 2007 at 12:08 pm

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Well this is an interesting twist. I'm sure they thought the sheer amount of publicity would work out in their favor regardless of how many people they ticked off. It turns out they were wrong!

The husbands of a couple of politicians decided to make their own leaflets, claiming to be part of an Islamic group and asking for forgiveness for the Bali bombers.

On a day when Mr Howard was making his final set-piece appeal to voters, he was distracted by the bogus flyer letterboxed in the Liberal seat of Lindsay.

Mr Howard used his speech to the National Press Club to urge undecided voters to stick with the Coalition and not risk a change to Labor just for change's sake.

But the address was overshadowed by the pamphlet, dreamt up over a few beers by the husbands of outgoing Liberal MP Jackie Kelly and the woman who wants to replace her, Liberal candidate Karen Chijoff.

Gary Clark and Greg Chijoff designed and distributed the flyer, which purports to be from the fictional Islamic Australia Federation and says the ALP wants the Bali bombers forgiven and backs construction of a mosque in western Sydney.

The Australian Electoral Commission has referred the scandal to the Australian Federal Police, which is evaluating whether to launch an investigation.

Mrs Kelly described it as a Chaser-style prank and said it was funny.

But Mrs Chijoff was said to be "absolutely outraged" when she found out about the brochure, which was distributed in suburban St Marys on Tuesday night.