The Office of the Chief Minister secretly briefed journalists in an effort to deny the significance of a Nazi general Police Minister Brent Potter quoted on Facebook, with Eva Lawler’s communications unit now claiming the attempted spread of Nazi misinformation was the result of a “typo”.

Labor’s claims that the post referencing the Nazi general was nothing more than a “famous war quote from a non-Nazi German” has been debunked by a leading academic on German World War II military history, while a member of Darwin’s Jewish community said the latest revelations that the Chief Minister’s Office attempted to downplay the significance of a Nazi showed Eva Lawler was not taking the hateful comments shared by Mr Potter seriously.

Police and Veterans’ Affairs Minister Brent Potter’s now-deleted racist, anti-Semitic, misogynistic and homophobic Facebook posts were first revealed by the NT Independent last Wednesday.

One included a meme shared in 2013 featuring a photo of Nazi general Erwin Rommel, which stated: “In the absence of orders go find something and kill it”.

The day the NT Independent published the article with the Rommel post, Chief Minister Eva Lawler’s communications team provided an NT News journalist with comments from Ms Lawler and Mr Potter, defending the “controversial” posts.

The briefing also included a section called “for background”, which typically provides information that could be used by a journalist but not attributed to the person providing the information, which the Sunday Territorian’s Bushranger column first exposed.

“For background, attached is one of the posts where Walsh claims Potter is support [sic] Nazi’s [sic], when really he re-shares a famous war quotes [sic] from a non-nazi [sic] German while serving in the Army,” the email from Ms Lawler’s office said.

The NT Independent sent questions to Ms Lawler’s office yesterday about the “background” comments, why they would try to soften Rommel’s public image, on whose orders the false information was released, what research was done to arrive at their conclusion Rommel was not a Nazi, and if Mr Potter provided the false information himself.

They were further asked if it was a reasonable use of taxpayer money to be denying Rommel was a Nazi, how denying Rommel was a Nazi aligned with Labor values, and why the Labor government appeared to be doing propaganda for Nazis.

Ms Lawler’s director of communications and engagement Anthony Templeton responded to the questions by claiming the defence of the Nazi general was a “typo”.

“A response recently sent out in relation to Brent Potter’s historical and inappropriate Facebook posts included a typo,” he wrote.

“This typo, made by staff, unintentionally changed the meaning of the background sentence to claim a Nazi general was not a Nazi.

“This was an error and we apologise for the inaccuracy included in the response sent to media.

“Brent Potter has been clear on a number of occasions that he re-shared a post that included a quote from prominent Nazi general Erwin Rommel. He has apologised for this post and others that were unacceptable.”

However, Mr Potter has not in fact made it “clear” he was quoting a “prominent Nazi” at any time and attempted to defend that post on Mix 104.9 on Friday instead of apologising for it, suggesting that he knew it was “distasteful for many”, but again claimed it was “a famous quote” that military people use and did not acknowledge that Rommel was a Nazi.

Mr Templeton did not respond to further questions including where the “typo” was and how it changed the meaning of the sentence. He also refused to say why a correction was not sent to journalists at any time after it was first made public on Sunday.

A Chief Ministerial ‘smokescreen’; Rommel ‘very much a Nazi’, expert says

Darwin Jewish community member Brad Serry said backgrounding journalists with false information was evidence Ms Lawler was not taking the issue seriously.

“It was extremely disappointing to learn that the Chief Minister’s office sought to manage the fallout by suggesting to media that Rommel was not in fact a Nazi,” he said.

“That response is frankly a smokescreen and it suggests the Chief Minister and the Police Minister are not taking the issue seriously enough.

“Even if we could accept that Rommel was not a Nazi, the content of Potter’s post ‘in the absence of orders go find something and kill it’, was deeply troubling.”

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin previously said Mr Potter needed to “educate himself”.

“His denigration of Orthodox Jews and admiration for one of Hitler’s generals is appalling conduct by a public official and sets a terrible example,” Mr Ryvchin told the media last week.

Mr Serry said it was hard to have confidence in the NT Police force while Mr Potter kept his job.

“The posts the Minister made were clearly abhorrent, and his and the Chief Minister’s efforts to dismiss what he said as someone being young and stupid are completely unsatisfactory,” he said.

“Their timid response to the revelations betrays a misunderstanding of how gravely the language he used and sentiments he expressed can impact minority and marginalised communities.

“It’s hard to have faith in an institution as important as NT Police, so long as he maintains his role.”

University of New South Wales Associate Professor David Stahel, an expert on World War II and author of a book about Hitler’s generals, told the NT Independent that claims by Mr Potter and the Chief Minister’s Office that Rommel was not a Nazi were “ridiculous”.

Prof Stahel said while Rommel had become “an object of myth” in military circles, his actual military record is “far more mediocre than many believe”.

“His loyalty to the [Nazi] regime allowed him to turn a blind eye to the mass murder taking place in Eastern Europe. Even in North Africa, as Dan Michan has written, a lot more is now known about Rommel’s potential relationship to the Holocaust,” he said.

“Rommel was very much a Nazi.”