Controversial Victorian Liberal MP Bernie Finn is under fire for posting a meme about a Chinese rocket falling on the national broadcaster or his political rivals.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Finn asked his Twitter followers: "Where should the Chinese rocket land?", and suggested The Project host Waleed Aly, the ABC, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe.
Remnants of China's largest rocket, the Long March 5B, crashed into the Indian Ocean on Sunday.
"For the benefit of humourless left-wing tossers, this is a joke," Mr Finn posted.
But state government lower house leader Jacinta Allan was not seeing the funny side.
"This is outrageous behaviour, it's not acceptable anywhere and it's certainly not acceptable from a member of parliament," Ms Allan said.
She added Mr Finn's behaviour has made him the subject of ridicule for much of his almost 30 years in parliament.
"(Opposition Leader) Michael O'Brien needs to put some steel in his spine and stand up and call out this sort of behaviour," Ms Allan said.
But she said this is unlikely to happen because Mr Finn is a strong supporter of the opposition leader.
Shadow treasurer Louise Staley has labelled the post "inappropriate" and confirmed Mr Finn removed it when he was asked to do so.
She told media on Monday it was difficult for her to answer questions about disciplinary action such as disendorsement, saying preselections are decided by the party.
When asked whether Mr Finn should remain an MP, she replied, "he's been elected by Victorians".
Mr Finn has a history of stoking online controversies, posting pro-Trump conspiracy theories on Facebook, and describing Daniel Andrews in an indecent position with a goat.
In 2019, he refused to stand for parliament's acknowledgement of country, while in 2014 he said rape victims should not be allowed to have an abortion.
There have been reports of growing discontent within the Liberals at Mr Finn retaining top spot on the party's upper house ballot papers.
ABC journalist Louise Milligan was also unimpressed with Mr Finn's post.
"We have on several occasions had very productive, professional discussions about autism - given your portfolio and our shared parenthood of ASD boys," she wrote to him on Twitter.
"That you would *joke* about bombing my place of work, shared with hardworking, diligent, decent journalists, floors me."
Daniel Andrews remains on leave recovering from a back injury.
Lidia Thorpe has declined to comment.
Australian Associated Press
