LNP blocks Gerard Rennick recruits as party seeks to ‘keep out the cookers’

Diane Demetre gained some notoriety as an author of a series of erotic fiction novels and a couple of murder mysteries. But her most recent writings strike a very different tone.

Demetre, who ran for the Liberal Democrats at the 2022 federal election, claims in social media posts that Covid is a "behavioural conditioning experiment" and warns about "the totalitarian rule of a group of globalists who want to play god".

She also urges her followers to get involved in party politics and help sway preselections.

In October, the Gold Coast businesswoman invited the Queensland Liberal National party senator, Gerard Rennick, to speak at an event hosted by her new networking business, dare2care Australia, which also runs get-rich seminars and presentations by those hostile to commonly accepted climate science.

Rennick addressed about 200 people at the Gold Coast Croatia Sports Centre hall at Carrara. In his speech he encouraged the crowd to become more politically engaged and have "a seat at the table".

He also brought a pile of LNP membership forms.

Guardian Australia understands multiple people who attended the meeting, including Demetre, subsequently attempted to join the LNP but were blocked by the party administration. Sources say LNP officials have become increasingly alert to attempts by the rightwing fringe, since the federal election, to build influence within the party.