Rockhampton MP Barry O'Rourke has apologised and admitted "I didn't choose my words very well” for comments made in an explosive radio interview.

During his usual Monday morning chat with 4RO radio host Aaron Stevens, Mr O'Rourke said he used the electoral roll to track down and visit voters who made social media comments about him.

"Quite often people put those really negative yucky comments, and then I go to Facebook and I track down who they are," Mr O'Rourke said.

"Then 1 see if they're on the electoral roll and if the)' are ... I love going around to visit. And you should see them, they turn into the most placid people and just so nice to your face.

"And 1 just think a bit of karma, I love it, you know it's probably a little bit stupid of me to do it sometimes. But as I said I'm a fairly big fella."

The comments have drawn criticism from across the political divide, including One Nation Keppel candidate James Ashby, Federal Senator Matt Canavan, Federal Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry and Independent candidate for Rockhampton Margaret Strelow.

'll admit I didn't choose my words “I' very well and I probably got a bit carried away in the radio chat they've pulled the quotes from, and I sincerely apologise for that," he said.

"As for the use of the electoral roll, this is a publicly accessible document. Anyone can pop into the local Electoral Commission office and access it. In the old days you'd look up people in the telephone book and this isn't much different.

"I am happy to defend myself for trying to take conversations offline rather than online. So, once again, I apologise for my poor explanation of myself, but I think this is actually an important and much bigger conversation for us to have as a community.

"Social media has its benefits, but on the whole, I think it's had a negative influence on us all."