Nationals MP for Parkes Mark Coulton has denied knowing a Dubbo man charged with child porn offences, despite a "happy birthday" message being sent to the man from the MP's personal Facebook profile.
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After the Daily Liberal published details of Gregory Marginson's most recent court appearance, readers supplied a screenshot showing a birthday message sent from Mr Coulton's profile to Marginson's on January 20 this year.
Marginson was charged with using a carriage device to solicit child porn in December 2017.
Police laid further charges in March 2018 after they found 335 items of child abuse material in his possession.
In the District Court on April 17 Marginson admitted he possessed the material and was attracted to children.
Readers who sourced the Facebook screenshot showing Mr Coulton's message to Marginson wanted to know why the message was sent.
Mr Coulton said he had no relationship with Marginson, who will be sentenced on June 20.
He said he had no recollection of Marginson "whatsoever" until the Daily Liberal showed him a screenshot of the Facebook message.
"As far as I recall, I do not know him at all," he said.
Mr Coulton said he had "no knowledge of these matters" when asked if he was aware of Marginson's case.
"Prior to having an official Facebook page I had, and still have, a personal page as both a way of keeping in touch with family and friends, and as a way of letting constituents know of my electorate activities," he said.
Mr Coulton said on his personal account he accepted requests to connect from family members and friends.
He said he also accepted friend requests from constituents "whether or not they were known to me personally, unless obviously an unsavoury character, judging by their profile picture or other information".
When asked why Marginson was wished a happy birthday if he was not known to Mr Coulton, the MP said "I enjoy staying connected with constituents of the Parkes electorate and as part of that, I wish my Facebook contacts a happy birthday, which is generally well received."
Expert opinion
A Charles Sturt University expert believes while politicians should be held accountable for what they post on social media, members of the public should consider how harshly they judge.
"Everybody should be cautious about what they say and who they say it to on social media," Associate Professor in political science Dominic O'Sullivan says.
"But how harshly we judge people should be relative to the seriousness of what they've posted. We should not take judgement to the extreme."
Associate Professor O'Sullivan says "because Facebook calls people a friend, it doesn't mean they are".
"We all say 'happy birthday' to people all the time.
"A throwaway line to a stranger is not the same as expressing a thoroughly racist thing," he says, referring to social media posts that have caused multiple candidates to pull out of the federal election race.
"The context and gravity is very different. Accountability does not mean minor errors of judgement should cost someone their job."
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