Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the Liberal Party is a "broad church" but he doesn't endorse the views of a Senate candidate who suggested having places for three year olds in kindergarten is a government conspiracy.
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Gerard Rennick, who is in the winnable third position on the LNP's Queensland ticket, made the comments on Facebook in response to the opposition's pledge last year to extend kinder to three-year-olds.
"The cynic in me suggests this is another attempt by Labor to strengthen the role the state has in raising a child at the expense of the parents," he wrote.
He also called for a dramatic cut in company tax rates and cast doubt over Russia's involvement in a chemical attack in the UK last year.
Mr Morrison said on Monday Mr Rennick would remain the candidate despite the controversial post, but distanced himself from his views on kindergarten.
"That's not government policy, won't be government policy. That's not my view, won't be my view," Mr Morrison said.
Labor's campaign spokesman Jim Chalmers said the comments showed the Liberals were "spectacularly out of touch".
"These guys are from another planet," he told reporters in Logan on Monday.
Mr Chalmers accused Mr Rennick of wanting to pay for a tax cut for the top end of town by cutting early education, which the LNP candidate thought was a conspiracy.
"This isn't some fringe character in the Liberal Party, this is a guy who is in a winnable position on the Senate ticket," the Labor frontbencher said.
"Malcolm Turnbull was absolutely right to say the extreme right-wing of the Liberal Party has taken over."
Mr Morrison criticised Labor MPs for having backgrounds as union officials rather than a diverse range of professions.
"We have people who come into our party from many different traditions, many different views, right across the community."
Mr Rennick has also backed away from an earlier statement in which he said a company tax rate of 12 per cent and a withholding tax rate of 15 per cent would combat tax avoidance.
"Definitely not 12 per cent and 15 per cent. I'm not into racing to the bottom," he told the ABC.
In October last year, Mr Rennick told The Australian he took "with a grain a salt" the British government's finding that Russian agents were responsible for Salisbury chemical weapons attack.
Australian Associated Press
