Explicit photos of women were posted on the Liberals’ social media accounts hours after Sussan Ley vowed to lead a party “proudly for women”.
Hours after Sussan Ley vowed to lead a Liberal Party “that is proudly for women”, explicit images were posted on its social media accounts.
The images appeared on the Liberals’ Facebook and Instagram accounts about midnight and were the product of hacking, the party said in a statement on Thursday.
“Overnight, the social media account of a contractor used by the party was hacked, leading to the posting of unauthorised material on the Liberal Party’s Meta accounts at around midnight,” the statement said.
“All material was removed within 10 minutes of it being posted and the matter was urgently raised with the Australian Cyber Security Centre and with Meta overnight
“We apologise for any offence caused.”
The hack came as the Liberal Party tries to rebrand after years of criticism for its dwindling female representation.
In her first major speech on Wednesday, the newly elected Opposition Leader said she wanted to boost the number of women in her party’s ranks and left the door open to quotas.
“We must be a Liberal Party that is proudly for women and made up of women. Our party must preselect more women in winnable seats so that we see more Liberal women in federal parliament,” she said.
“Now, I’m agnostic on specific methods to make it happen, but I am a zealot that it does actually happen. Current approaches have clearly not worked, so I am open to any approach that will.”