A political storm has erupted in Frankston after a campaign sign for Liberal candidate Nathan Conroy was found affixed to a war memorial on election day, prompting widespread condemnation and raising questions about who was responsible.
The incident came to light after Paul Edbrooke MP, who was campaigning for Labor’s Jodie Belyea, shared a video online showing himself removing the signage from the memorial.
“So Nathan, I’m just going to remove your corflute off the war memorial if that’s okay,” Edbrooke says in the video. “That’s so disrespectful. You should know better.”
The footage, which was posted to social media on Saturday morning, quickly sparked backlash, with many expressing anger that any campaign material would be placed on a site honouring fallen soldiers.
It’s unclear who attached the corflute to the memorial, but the sign featured Nathan Conroy’s face and Liberal Party branding. Conroy’s campaign has yet to issue a public statement addressing the incident.
Whether the act was a deliberate stunt, a misguided volunteer’s error, or a targeted set-up remains unknown. However, it has cast a shadow over election day in one of the most closely watched federal seats in the country.
Dunkley is considered a must-hold seat for the Albanese government, and the campaign has been fiercely contested, with both major parties pulling out all the stops to sway voters in the final hours.
Local residents expressed disbelief over the placement of the sign, with some labelling it “disrespectful” and calling for an apology from the Liberal campaign. Others speculated it may have been a political stitch-up designed to embarrass the candidate on the most crucial day of the campaign.
STPL News will continue to monitor the situation and update this story as more information becomes available.
