There are calls for better vetting processes in the New South Wales Liberal Party after a candidate was disendorsed over homophobic and Islamophobic comments he made online.
The party said the media made it aware of the comments by Wyong candidate Matthew Squires before an internal investigation was conducted and he was disendorsed.
Mr Squires was selected as the candidate for the upcoming election two days before nominations closed.
He was in the top spot on the local ballot.
According to the NSW Electoral Commission, his name will remain on the ballot papers when voters head to the polls.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said the right call had been made.
"I just want to back in the Liberal Party's decision," he said.
"There is no place for those views in our party and he's been disendorsed, as he should have been, and I completely back that decision."
Call to improve vetting process
Former Liberal Party member and Peninsula Chamber of Commerce president Matthew Wales said it was clear better vetting processes needed to be in place.
"It comes back to a systematic problem with the Liberal Party, where they seem to leave it way too late to select candidates for the state elections," he said.
"How good is the vetting process if this has now come to light and basically blown up in their faces?"
Mr Wales said major parties should preselect candidates much earlier.
"Don't leave it till weeks out from an election and then expect the electorate to say, 'Oh yeah, wow, that's a fantastic selection for the state election,'" he said.
"It does not give the respect to the electorate that I believe major parties should be showing."
The Wyong electorate has been won by Labor at every election since it was created in 1962, except for in 2011, when the Liberals claimed it.
Wyong MP David Harris said he was disappointed by the disendorsement.
"I'm actually a bit sad, because our community deserves to have a competitive election," he said.
"When either of the two parties are deeply wounded it's actually not good for the community in the long run."
