Candidate told: get out of site

Andrew Mathieson
The Liberal party has ordered a preselection candidate for Corangamite to shut down his personal website.
Rod Nockles, an IT security expert having a second tilt at federal preselection for the seat, played down the disciplinary action.
“I was asked to take the website down and I have done that,” Mr Nockles said.
“It did exist prior to the preselection.”
A Liberal party member told the Independent he feared rival factions had dobbed in Mr Nockles to ruin his preselection chances.
Mr Nockles will contest the Corangamite candidacy against lawyer and ABC journalist Sarah Henderson, Victorian Farmers Federation president Simon Ramsay, funeral director Michael King and parliamentary staffers Simon Price and Robert Hardie.
Mr Nockles lost the 2006 preselection after long-standing member Stewart McArthur secured the final numbers in an 11th hour bid to win over rank and file members.
Mr Nockles has in effect shut down rodnockles.com with a message for viewers.
“I’m offline for the moment but I’ll be back mid June,” Mr Nockles said in a post on the website.
Mid-June is after the preselection vote.
The social website had briefly mentioned his family background and life experiences but not his Liberal party affiliation or the Corangamite vote.
Mr Nockles confirmed the party had gagged preselection candidates so they would avoid influencing rank-and-file members ahead of the vote.
Under internal party rules, any form of promotion or advertising leading up to preselection is banned, including expressing opinions to the media.
“There is really no big deal about it,” Mr Nockles said.
“I still have a holding page.
“Because I’m in online businesses and things like that, I’ve had websites, Facebook, Myspace on the internet before.”
Mr Nockles still maintains a Facebook profile, whose friends include prominent Liberals such as federal members Joe Hockey, Julian McGauran, Christopher Pyne and Fran Bailey, Victorians Martin Dixon and David Koch and controversial New South Wales politician Pru Goward.
A Liberal spokesperson said he recognised Mr Nockles’s site was for commercial purposes but that it was shut down in accordance with party practice.