Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described allegations about his 2007 Liberal preselection as "bitter and malicious slurs", insisting his party is unified ahead of the upcoming federal election.
Both The Saturday Paper and the Sydney Morning Herald have reported on the contents of statutory declarations signed by two men in 2016, which detail Mr Morrison's battle to be preselected for the seat of Cook ahead of rival Michael Towke.
According to the reports, the men claim that Mr Morrison urged people not to support Mr Towke because of his family's Lebanese heritage.
The outlets reported Mr Towke said: "They informed me that Morrison was appealing with them to not support me based solely on the rationale that my family heritage was Lebanese."
"He was adamant and explicit that a candidate of Lebanese heritage could not hold the seat of Cook, especially after the Cronulla riots."
According to a declaration reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Liberal Party member Scott Champan wrote that "Scott Morrison told me that, if Michael Towke were to be preselected, there would be a 'swing against the Liberal Party in Cook' because of Mr Towke's Lebanese background.'"
The ABC has not been able to verify those documents.
Mr Morrison again denied the allegations for a second day while campaigning in Tasmania on Sunday, dismissing them as "untrue".
"It's just simply untrue — these are quite malicious and bitter slurs which are deeply offensive and I reject them," Mr Morrison said.
"It comes at an interesting time that these vicious personal attacks come on the eve of an election. I'll let people work out their own findings on what's motivating that.
"I've been around politics a long time and people when they've had disappointments — whether they be in preselections or in decisions — can often remain bitter for many, many years.
"All I can tell you is my record of my relationship with the Lebanese Maronite community in particular, as well as Lebanese Muslim community, is one that I think stands out."
The issue flared this week when Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells told the Senate Mr Morrison was "not fit to be prime minister".
In a fiery late-night speech, she told the Senate "Morrison might profess to be Christian, but there was nothing Christian about what was done to Michael Towke".
'Party unified' ahead of election
Mr Morrison insisted the party was unified as it heads into the federal election campaign.
"We are totally unified in the parliamentary Liberal party, that's one of our great strengths through all the challenges faced as a government," he said.
Senior cabinet ministers have also come to Mr Morrison's defence, with government frontbencher Anne Ruston describing the allegations as a "political hit campaign".
"It appears to be an orchestrated political hit campaign on the integrity of the Prime Minister in the lead up to election," she said.
"We have to call this out for what it is — it's a political hit by the Prime Minister's enemies on the eve of a campaign."
Housing Minister Michael Sukkar, who is of Lebanese descent, said there was "no greater champion for the Australian Lebanese community" than the Prime Minister.
"In my experience, there is no MP, let alone PM, who's shown more support, care and respect for the Australian Lebanese community," Mr Sukkar wrote on Twitter.
The federal opposition has seized on the reports, with Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers saying the allegations make Mr Morrison appear untrustworthy to the public.
"I don't think that they believe a word he says about his own preselection," he said.
"If you can't believe him about his own preselection, you can't believe him about real wages, or the future of our economy.
"There's a pattern here. The people who know Scott Morrison the best, who've worked with him the longest, think the least of him and trust him even less."
