Coalition leader Peter Dutton has refused to be drawn on public scrutiny of yet another Liberal candidate’s past, amid questions on the party’s vetting process.

Nine newspapers reported on Thursday that the Liberal candidate for Wills, in inner-Melbourne, had pleaded guilty last year to obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Jeffrey Kidney reportedly paid $10,000 in fines and compensation to Victoria’s Work Cover authority, but had no conviction recorded.

Dutton was asked about Kidney in the Melbourne seat of Aston on Thursday, but refused to answer direct questions on the candidate for Wills, which is a safe Labor seat.

Asked if there was anything wrong with the opposition’s vetting of candidates, Dutton said the Liberals had “some amazing people”.

“I want to make sure that we can select good candidates so we can get rid of the bad candidate,” he said.

Dutton heaped praise on Manny Cicchiello, who is running for the marginal Labor seat of Aston, in Melbourne’s outer-east, who has been a teacher for 25 years.

Jeffrey Kidney describes himself as a ‘national operations manager’ with experience in business. Photo: Liberal Party

Kidney is the latest Liberal candidate to come under scrutiny in recent days, after controversial past comments emerged from some.

Former paratrooper Ben Britton unleashed on the party on Tuesday after being ditched, purportedly over statements against women serving in combat roles.

Britton is now running as an independent for the seat of Whitlam on the NSW south coast.

He was reportedly tapped on the shoulder over the resurfaced remarks from a podcast last July.

On Tuesday, Britton told 2GB’s Ben Fordham he was “relieved” to have been disendorsed because he was “free to finally say what I want to say and speak for the people”.

He accused Liberal Party’s left and right factions of running a “witch hunt” against him, but also plotting against Dutton.

“What’s occurring within the NSW division right now is a systematic plot from the left faction working in tandem with members of the right who are traitors, to stab Peter Dutton in the back, ensure he doesn’t get elected as prime minister so they can roll him as leader,” he said.

Another LNP candidate apologised for a string of controversial social media posts in which he railed against Covid restrictions and blamed “feminists” for Donald Trump’s election loss.

North Queensland candidate Jeremy Neal is running for the marginal LNP seat of Leichhardt.

Neal reportedly officially launched his campaign last week with Donald Trump-inspired hats worn by LNP volunteers reading: “MAGA Make Albo Go Away”.

He is seeking to retain the seat for the LNP after the retirement of long-serving MP Warren Entsch.

Neal is a Cairns paramedic who faces a challenge from Labor candidate Matt Smith, a former NBL player for the Cairns Taipans. The LNP margin in Leichhardt is 3.4 per cent.

On Tuesday, The Courier-Mail revealed since-deleted social media posts from Neal.

“Feminists helped kick Trump out only to ruin ~ 19000000 women’s lives in Afghanistan under Biden,” he reportedly posted in August 2021.

In November 2020, he apparently labelled China a “grub of a country”, following the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman posting a fake picture showing an Australian soldier murdering an Afghan child.

Neal apologised for the posts, saying they were poorly worded.

“I share Peter Dutton’s concerns over President Trump’s tariffs, particularly the impact they will have on our local beef industry,” he told the newspaper.

Meanwhile, the Liberal candidate for Bennelong, Scott Yung, was publicly linked to a casino high roller associated with the Chinese Communist Party, despite his protestations.

Yung reportedly addressed Xie Xiongming as “brother” in Mandarin and thanked him for organising a Lunar New Year event in Sydney on January 6, Nine newspapers reported.

-with AAP