A sacked Liberal MLA has emphatically denied a clip of security footage shows her striking a staff member in the party office and says it has been edited to paint a "misleading picture".
A clip of security camera footage has been shared among Liberals as evidence Elizabeth Kikkert was involved in an altercation in the party's division office that contributed to the party's decision to drop her as a candidate.
The short clip, obtained by The Canberra Times, shows Mrs Kikkert in the party's division office moving a mobile phone towards a staff member. The staff member appears to move away from Mrs Kikkert after she reaches up towards his head with a mobile phone.
The footage does not conclusively appear to show contact being made. The one-second clip is date stamped Friday, June 14, and has a timestamp indicating the incident took place at 9.03pm.
The footage was among material considered by the Liberals when they disendorsed her.
Mrs Kikkert was disendorsed after the party's management committee unanimously decided to remove her from its ticket.
They announced the decision in the early hours of the morning on September 10, the ousting largely overshadowing their own marquee election pledge for a city stadium.
The Ginninderra MLA, who confirmed widely expectations on Wednesday she will be a candidate for Family First, said the clip was entirely misleading.
"It is a one-second clip where I was seeking to hold my phone up to the staff member so he might listen to a Liberal Party member on the other end of the line. He refused to do so," Mrs Kikkert said in a statement to The Canberra Times.
"I emphatically deny that at any point I sought to make any sort of physical contact, a fact that the full video footage would show. It has been deliberately edited to less than two seconds to paint a misleading picture. I will not be making any further comment at this stage, whilst I am taking legal advice."
The Canberra Liberals did not respond to repeated questions about the video or the reasons Mrs Kikkert had been disendorsed.
The party issued a statement in the early hours of September 10 to confirm Mrs Kikkert was no longer a party candidate. She was removed from the party room in a vote later that day.
"This decision was not taken lightly, but reflects the seriousness with which the Liberal Party takes compliance with obligations of candidates and MLAs under the Electoral Act 1992, including but not limited to disclosure of donations and electoral expenditure," the party said in a statement.
Bill Stefaniak, the former Liberal opposition leader, confirmed he had met with Mrs Kikkert about her political future but the member for Ginninderra would not run for the Belco Party, which Mr Stefaniak now leads.
City News published an interview with Mrs Kikkert on its website on Monday in which Mrs Kikkert announced she would run for Family First, but the story was removed shortly afterwards. It was republished on Wednesday.
Mrs Kikkert told the magazine she rejected the Liberal Party's suggestion she had been dishonest or had been in breach of electoral laws.
"I answered that I strongly disagree with the allegations that the Liberal Party have made and that I am currently seeking legal advice," Mrs Kikkert said she told Family First.
"They understood where I was coming from and I think because they know how politics work, they probably felt that this was just a political game."
Mrs Kikkert reportedly acknowledged there was "an incident" that involved "somebody outside" her office but said she was "seeking legal advice about it", the magazine reported.
Family First was contacted for comment.
