The Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has slammed Queensland MP Jason Costigan, the member for the Whitsundays, calling him “sleazy” following an image the 47-year-old posted to Facebook.
“Here’s the LNP Member for Whitsunday creeping on young, foreign tourists on ‘World Bikini Day’,” Trad wrote in a tweet.
“Which he surprisingly celebrates every year. Did you get a good look?” she added.
The politician used the hashtag #sleazey [sic] to describe Costigan in the tweet.
On Facebook, Trad added, “It’s 2018. He’s an elected official. He’s being paid by the taxpayer. And yesterday he was out ‘celebrating’ world bikini day by creeping on young, foreign tourists.”
“Ugh.”
The image in question was posted to Costigan’s Facebook page on Wednesday and shows the fully dressed politician with his arms around two female tourists in bikinis. He captioned the image, “Celebrating World Bikini Day in Airlie Beach:)”.
Many have echoed Trad’s sentiments, posting on Twitter their agreement.
Many others, however, have criticised Trad for the accusation.
Until 2010, Jason Costigan was a rugby league commentator. He didn’t assume office until 2012.
Top Comments
I'm sure part of his job is to promote tourism (and other businesses) in his area - so no issue with promoting "world bikini day".
I'm semi ok with the photo with his arms around the two tourists. It seems a bit ick to me - would have been much better had he got in the spirit and worn some bathers himself too. This seems a fairly typical/harmless pollie photo, though with the clothing difference has a bit of the "here are my boatshow models" undertones.
The photo where he appears to be looking at the tourist on the left - well if he posted that himself (or his team) then that shows they are just stupid. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and say it was a camera angle/fleeting glance, but to deliberately post it on social media is just dumb.
I’m not sure what the real issue is. It doesn’t bother me. What if he had been out and about in his electorate (which is a beach one) and they approached him? Does it matter that they are apparently tourists? I doubt if they had been dressed it would be an issue.