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Labor’s Parramatta candidate Donna Davis has made a sworn statement refuting claims she made racially-charged comments about women to two Liberal volunteers in 2021 in a bid to quash the scandal.
However, in the statutory declaration provided to The Daily Telegraph, Ms Davis did not deny that she told two Liberal volunteers that they “lock (women) up”.
“I did not make racist comments or racist slurs during the 2021 local government pre-poll period at the Epping Early voting centre,” she said in her declaration made on Tuesday.
The declaration was made in an attempt to rebut claims from Liberal volunteers revealed by the Telegraph.
“I recall making comments about the lack of female representation among the Liberal volunteers who were assisting the Liberal Hornsby candidates and the independent running in Parramatta, JP Abood,” the declaration said.
“These comments were made in the context of current social commentary around the perceived ‘lack of’ or ‘limited’ female representation among the Liberal Party’s membership and in all 3 levels of government,” the statement said.
It comes after Labor leader Chris Minns ruled out taking action against Ms Davis after claims she made offensive comments about the ethnic background of two Liberal party volunteers.
Mr Minns said he believed Parramatta Lord Mayor’s Donna Davis’ version of events, where she claimed she was referring to the Liberal Party’s lack of women when she allegedly said to two men: “Where are your women at. (Sic) Where are they? You lock them up.”
It comes after two Liberal Party volunteers – one of Lebanese background and one of Indian background – alleged Ms Davis made the comments about their ethnic background while campaigning in the 2021 local government elections, which she denies. -ADVERTISEMENT- The two men, who have signed statutory declarations, say Ms Davis approached them on a pre-poll booth in November 2021 and said the comments.
Mr Minns said he accepted Ms Davis’ version of events, which was that her comments were about the lack of women campaigning for the Liberals.
“She’s an extremely trustworthy person, I’ve always taken her to be a person of her word,” Mr Minns said Tuesday.
He also claimed the revelations could be a mid-election ploy to muddy the waters in the key seat.
“I just remind everybody, we’re in the middle of an election campaign. Donna’s obviously running for the state seat of Parramatta, (and the) people that are up against her are advocating on behalf of another candidate, but I’d stand by Donna absolutely,” he said.
“She’s someone who’s committed to that community. She’s worked tirelessly as the Lord Mayor of Parramatta, she’s run a positive and optimistic campaign about what’s possible in that fast growing part in New South Wales.
