The use of a photograph depicting Labor's Brisbane candidate Pat O'Neill wearing his Australian Army fatigues in election advertising was not such a big deal, an ex-servicewoman running against him said on Monday.
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The Veterans Party candidate for the seat of Brisbane, Bridget Clinch, served two tours to East Timor during her career in the Australian Army.
Ms Clinch said the furore over Mr O'Neill's billboard was overblown.
"He was an armoured corps officer, I was an infantry corps officer, and tactics was our game," she said.
"This, to me, brilliant tactics on his part because he wants to get elected.
"The Labor Party wants him to get elected and every article about this is going to run with a picture of the ad.
"It'll pop up on Twitter and Facebook and if I could get that kind of free press, and I didn't have my integrity, it's probably the kind of thing I would be chasing."
But, ultimately, Ms Clinch – a transsexual woman who successfully campaigned for the Australian Defence Force to scrap a rule that stated transsexual people were not fit for duty – said Mr O'Neill's service was no secret, and nor should it be.
"Everyone knows he was an armoured officer, everyone knows I was in the military and made them change a policy a lot of people have benefited from in terms of equality," she said.
"But really, that one picture? It's not a game changer and it's not telling lies.
"That's his background and it's a picture of something everybody knows anyway.
"I wouldn't be jumping up and down about it and I'm not."
The ADF has asked Mr O'Neill to stop using the images.
Mr O'Neill responded on Facebook on Tuesday by posting photographs of then-Liberal Party candidate Andrew Hastie, whose Canning byelection material included photographs of him in his SAS uniform.
"There shouldn't be one rule for Malcolm Turnbull and his mates, and one for the rest of us," he said.
Questions asked of the ADF on Monday morning as to whether it held similar concerns about Mr Hastie's campaign remained unanswered on Monday evening.
The Greens' candidate for Brisbane, Kirsten Lovejoy, said she understood why Mr O'Neill was proud to highlight his military service.
"My husband served in the infantry for seven years and I'm really proud of what he did," she said.
"But it's partly because of him and others like him that I think it's important to respect the call of the Australian Defence Force to keep the defence force apolitical."
Ms Lovejoy said the Greens had three ex-service members running in Queensland at the 2016 federal election.
"I am sure they would all like to see better awareness of issues facing service personnel both current and former, but they'll all be photographed in civilian clothes for their respective campaigns," she said.
The LNP candidate for Brisbane, Trevor Evans, declined to comment.
The matter came to light after far-right Australian Liberty Alliance Queensland Senate candidate Bernard Gaynor wrote to Defence Minister Marise Payne to complain about the billboards.
Mr Gaynor, who includes photographs of himself wearing army fatigues on his own politically charged non-campaign website, said it gave the impression the ADF supported the ALP.
"I am happy to confirm that I have not used any imagery of my military service in political campaign material," he said in his letter of complaint to Senator Payne.
"Nor have I ever sought to do so.
"Unlike Mr O'Neill, I fully support the requirement for the Australian Defence Force to remain apolitical and separate from the political activity of its members carried out in their private capacity as citizens of Australia."
