news, federal-politics,

The conservative lobby group Advance Australia has made a complaint to Queensland police about a reported death threat made to its "satirical superhero" Captain GetUp. The caped conservative crusader, who is confusingly named after progressive activist group GetUp, is a superhero-style character created to drum up publicity for Advance Australia causes, and to highlight what it says is GetUp's agenda "to change Australia's way of life". The character has been unleashed on electorates around Australia where GetUp is actively campaigning to get rid of conservative candidates, notably Tony Abbott's seat of Warringah and Peter Dutton's seat of Dickson. On Tuesday a news report "unmasked" Captain GetUp as a Colombian YouTube video creator and former employee of a Sydney real estate agent. The man, who is a private employee of Advance Australia, is in the country on a spousal visa. His Australian partner works with him as Captain GetUp's sidekick, Freddy Foreign Money. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age has seen a screenshot of a tweet from an anonymous Twitter account that reads: "Got banned for threatening to kill Captain GetUp, I regret nothing." However, Advance Australia has no record of the death threat the tweet refers to. "Today, Advance Australia has contacted the Queensland Police about death and other threats made against a staff member of Advance Australia who is currently working as Captain GetUp," Advance Australia national director Gerard Benedet said. "Like any movement taking part in this election, we accept criticism, but death and other threats and personal attacks are not on. "These threats will not deter Captain GetUp from raising awareness of GetUp and its radical agenda to change the Australian way of life." The source of the information about Captain GetUp's true identity is a Melbourne man who identifies himself on Twitter as "Captain GetUp buster, Labor all the way". One of his tweets contained information exposing the personal details of the man behind Captain GetUp. Speaking on Wednesday, the man, who we have chosen not to name, said he is no longer a member of the Labor Party but provides media advice for marginal Labor candidates on a voluntary basis. In a text message sent to the Colombian man inside the Captain GetUp suit, and seen by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, the Labor volunteer says "Don't worry I won't tell anyone how I found you, leave Sheerin alone or I will make this very personal." Sheerin Morris is the Labor candidate for the Melbourne seat of Deakin, held by Peter Dutton-backer Michael Sukkar. When asked about this text message, the Labor man said he was referring to "more info I have got" on the Colombian man behind Captain GetUp. He said he turned his attention to Captain GetUp after the satirical superhero made a sexualised video in which he rubbed up against a poster of independent Warringah candidate Zali Steggall, in footage widely condemned as sexist. The Labor man said he spoke to Ms Steggall on Tuesday, who said that she didn't want any information about Captain GetUp "because she wanted to run a positive campaign". When contacted, Queensland Police could not independently verify the complaint for privacy reasons.

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