EXCLUSIVE: John Ferguson From: The Australian July 20, 2011 12:00AM
AN influential Liberal Party adviser quit last night after admitting sending vulgar anti-Coalition messages that undermined federal and state MPs.
Daniel Bevan quit the office of Victorian senator Scott Ryan after The Australian uncovered evidence of back-biting, sexist and apparently racist messages in his Twitter account.
It is believed he resigned after being confronted by Senator Ryan about the content of one of his Twitter accounts, which attacked senior federal and state Liberals and included dozens of references to female genitalia.
Mr Bevan becomes the fifth Victorian Liberal forced to quit after abusing social media and the internet since the 2008 "Red
Ted" blogging scandal erupted inside the party's Melbourne headquarters.
He also has quit the party's powerful state executive, which effectively runs the organisation between state council meetings.
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A furious Senator Ryan, the Coalition's opposition spokesman for small business and competition, said he had no idea the Twitter account, which posted messages under the pseudonym "Santos--Halper", was being used by a staff member.
Senator Ryan last night said in a statement: "I spoke to Daniel this afternoon about these matters. He has resigned from my staff."
Mr Bevan is believed to have volunteered his resignation just hours after denying to The Australian he had sent the messages.
"This was a silly thing to have done. What I did was stupid and I've resigned," Mr Bevan said last night.
Targets of Mr Bevan's Twitter rants include federal opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton, Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu, Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells and Victorian Health Minister David Davis.
Mr Bevan singled out the Baillieu government, suggesting that it would wreck the economy and that the state's AAA credit rating would be lost under Mr Wells. Liberal insiders also believe the Twitter site includes a vulgar reference to former Liberal senator Judith Troeth.
On Mr Davis, Mr Bevan wrote: "David Davis' (sic) voice makes me want to self harm."
On Peter Dutton, he wrote: "If Peter Dutton is a future leader of the Liberal Party, it's more pharked (sic) than even I thought."
Party sources said there was no choice but to deal with Mr Bevan, given the blogging scandal that tore through the party in 2008 when four Liberals were sacked for either undermining Mr Baillieu or using racist comments.
Mr Bevan bragged on the eve of the Victorian state election last year that he would "welcome every newspaper in Victoria into the cancerous cell". This will be seen as a direct reference to Mr Baillieu having attacked a so-called cell in the Victorian Liberal Party in 2008 that had worked against his leadership.
The Australian has copies of several pages of tweets sent by Mr Bevan, including one awarding the Seven Network's Mark Riley "C . . t of the Year".
There also was a reference to "M's of every variety at DFO", which a party source said appeared to refer to Muslims. When contacted by The Australian yesterday morning, Mr Bevan denied the offending account was his.
"Not mine," he said. "But I understand what's going on."
Victorian Liberal Party state director Damien Mantach said the behaviour could not be tolerated. "Under no circumstances does the party accept such behaviour, particularly from senior office bearers," he said.
Liberal aide Daniel Bevan admits anti-Coalition tweets | The Australian
