After delivering his five minute introduction to the room of about 30 voters from across Deniliquin and district, Mr Adamson announced he would not be staying for the rest of the two hour session.
The Griffith-based candidate expressed disappointment that a request to film the session had been agreed to by all but one of the candidates fronting the forum - The Nationals candidate for Murray Peta Betts declining - thus excluding those unable to attend from hearing the responses.
The filming request had come from a member of incumbent Member for Murray Helen Dalton’s team.
Her team had filmed previous meet the candidate forums in other communities, at the request of constituents who were unable to attend.
In the wake of the forum, Mrs Dalton issued a press release yesterday morning saying she would seek National Party clarification after Ms Betts “refused to participate in a public candidate debate if it was filmed”.
Mrs Dalton described Betts’ behaviour as undemocratic.
“As a state MP you are in the public eye and you have to be completely transparent,” she said.
“Not only does Ms Betts want to be a part time MP, she also wants to hide herself and her comments from voters.
“It was the most bizarre behaviour I have seen by a candidate in a long time.”
Ms Dalton has called on Nationals state leader Paul Toole to guarantee Ms Betts won’t try and ban the video-taping of any public events in the future.
In response, Ms Betts’ team yesterday issued a media statement under the heading of ‘Livestreaming fine - fudged footage not’.
“Last night’s candidate debate in Deniliquin was not livestreamed by the organisers or any of the candidates. If it had been, I would have welcomed it as an unedited, unfiltered presentation of the debate and how it unfolded,” Ms Betts said in the statement.
“Instead, what was attempted at the forum was to record the debate for future use – by whom we don’t know, and for what purpose we don’t know.
“We can only assume the footage was to be edited and included in campaign material for someone’s own political, personal and private purposes. In other words – propaganda, the complete opposite of transparency and accuracy.
“As a proud defender of democracy, I was not prepared to provide footage of myself for another candidate’s own agenda. I’m sure any clear-thinking candidate, if they had been aware of the context, would have objected as well.
“It is a pity Mr Adamson did not participate in the Deniliquin debate, as they are an important part of our political process.
“Those who attended in person had the benefit of seeing candidates ‘in the flesh’ and hearing what they had to say on important issues, without it being filtered and fiddled with by any candidates.
“It is usual practice for people to be informed if they are being livestreamed prior to an event or asked permission if being filmed. This was not the case last night and I was only made aware after previous forums that livestreaming/filming may have occurred on those occasions.
“In all instances, it is disrespectful not to be upfront about filming and not to receive prior permission.”
Mr Adamson’s departure from the forum cut the attending candidates from five to four, with independent David Landini and Kevin Farrell from the Public Education Party also in attendance.
Candidates not in attendance were Adrian Carle (Legalise Cannabis Party); Max Buljubasic (Labor); Michael Florance (Sustainable Australia Party); Desiree Gregory (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers) and Amelia King (The Greens).
• More on the forum, including responses to questions asked, will be appear in Tuesday’s edition.
