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Volunteers at the Bennelong polling booth were photographed holding posters on Wednesday that said: “What are you hiding on your phone, Jerome?”

Jerome Laxale told this masthead in a statement: “I love my Dad, but the things he said were deeply offensive and completely unacceptable. He should not have said them. I’ve spoken to him and he regrets them, and apologises unreservedly.”

Shortly before Laxale’s father’s outburst, the Labor Party complained to the Australian Electoral Commission about volunteers from the Heart Party – a micro-party of COVID vaccine sceptics formerly known as the Informed Medical Options party – who have brandished corflutes taunting Laxale about his private life.

A letter from Labor assistant secretary Jen Light sent to the AEC on Wednesday said the party was considering referring Heart Party volunteers to police.

“At least three volunteers for ‘the Heart Party’ followed the local Labor MP, Jerome Laxale, around the area outside the PPVC – brandishing signs, making inappropriate comments and generally obstructing the movements of Mr Laxale and people who wished to engage with Mr Laxale,” the letter stated. “This may extend to seeking to interfere with Mr Laxale speaking to voters by harassing him, including standing over him and following him.”

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Laxale, known as one of the best marginal seat campaigners in the government, won the seat from the Liberal Party in 2022, but a redrawing of boundaries means the seat is notionally Liberal with a wafer-thin margin of 0.04 per cent.

Liberal candidate Scott Yung’s character has also come under scrutiny after a series of stories in this masthead probed his campaign finance record during his 2019 state election run, and his ties to a Chinese Communist Party-linked casino high roller.

“I think it’s borderline racism,” Yung said in a recent podcast, referring to the stories. “Just because I’ve got an Asian face, my parents have come from China and Hong Kong, they call me a communist.”

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