CORANGAMITE MP Darren Cheeseman has gone to ground as an inquiry into fake pro-Labor online comments leaves politicians and their staffers as potential sources after clearing parliamentary staff.
The posts, under several aliases, related to Barwon and Colac Area health services, both of which suffered Gillard Government funding cuts before the money was restored last week.
Mr Cheeseman, whose seat is the most marginal seat in Australia, failed to respond to numerous requests for comment on the posts investigation despite last month telling the Independent he had “a lot of bollocks”.
Department of Parliamentary Service (DPS) declined to say whether its inquiry had interviewed Mr Cheeseman or his staff.
The department released a statement saying it had completed a “preliminary inquiry” into comments on the Colac Herald’s website from a computer on the parliamentary computing network.
“DPS can confirm that the computer user who made the comments was not a DPS staff member,” the statement said.
“DPS is considering the matter further and will not provide any additional comments on this issue at this point in time.”
Liberal Senator Michael Ronaldson, who raised the matter in parliament last month said the posts came from either “a public servant’s computer or from a computer or computers in an MP’s office”.
“As the investigation to date has exonerated any public servants and investigation is still ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further,” he said.
The Liberals’ candidate for Corangamite, Sarah Henderson, declined to comment.
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