The president of the Australian Young Liberals has defended a Facebook post congratulating Brett Kavanaugh on his appointment to the US Supreme Court.
The Young Liberal Movement of Australia's Facebook page is the official page of the national Young Liberals and has over 7,500 followers. It posted a picture of US president Donald Trump and Kavanaugh on Sunday morning.
"Common sense has prevailed! Congratulations to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and to President Trump on a tremendous selection," the post said.
The US Senate voted to confirm Kavanaugh as a judge to the Supreme Court on Sunday morning 50 votes to 48. It was the narrowest vote on a Supreme Court nomination in 137 years.
The Young Liberal's post congratulating Kavanaugh has received nearly 2,000 angry reactions and over 1,000 comments, many from women.
"Repugnant," one user commented under the picture, "[I'm] gonna go out on a limb and guess it wasn’t a female who posted this..."
"So I wonder how many of you ... would be happy to allow your mother, sister or daughter to work for him???" another woman wrote.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves!" a third said. "Whether or not the allegations are true his conduct during the Senate hearing was evidence enough he is not fit for the position of power."
Kavanaugh's nomination has been surrounded by controversy, with multiple women making allegations of sexual misconduct and assault during his high school and college years.
Christine Blasey Ford told the the Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a party when she was 15 years old. Deborah Ramirez alleges that Kavanaugh exposed his penis to her at a college party.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
His confirmation sparked unprecedented protests across America, with more than 150 people arrested in Washington, DC.
As Democrat Joe Manchin voted for Kavanaugh a protester yelled “SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.”
The president of the Young Liberals, Josh Manuatu, told BuzzFeed News that he stood by Sunday's Facebook post.
"While we don’t take a position on who should or shouldn’t be appointed to the US Supreme Court, the appointment of Justice Kavanaugh has highlighted an issue just as relevant in Australia, where lynch mobs attack people on the basis of unfounded claims and accusations," Manuatu said.
"As a movement that fundamentally believes in the rule of law and the notion of people being innocent until proven guilty, we felt it important to highlight this victory for reason following the decision by the US Senate.
"That said, in a democracy people will have different views, which they are entitled to."
Manuatu said he wasn't surprised people were angry, because he says Labor and the Greens "specifically encouraged activists" to troll the Young Liberal page.
A Labor memes page shared the post, telling its 73,000 followers: "Well the young liberals are disgusting I guess. Give em hell."
BuzzFeed News understands the Young Liberals have been monitoring the post and are deleting comments they consider defamatory or slurs.
The Liberal Party has been publicly criticised by many within its own ranks over alleged bullying of female MPs.
Federal MP Julia Banks announced in August that she would retire at the next election, citing bullying during the recent leadership spill. Liberal senator Lucy Gichuhi has threatened to name male politicians who have bullied her.
Critics of the Young Liberals pointed to the fact that the party has fewer than 25% female MPs in federal parliament.
"Guys last night u were supposed to turn your clocks forward an hour not back fifty years," one commented.
A similar post about Kavanaugh went up on Tasmanian Liberal senator Eric Abetz's Facebook page on Sunday: "Congratulations to US Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh on his appointment. It is good to see reason prevail in the appointment of this fine jurist to the US Supreme Court."
Manuatu works as Abetz's media adviser. The 20 comments on Abetz's post are nearly all positive.