To look into the mind of Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly is to understand that there are unlimited conspiracy permutations once you fall down the rabbit hole. Here are just some of his preoccupations and their sub-variations.
Coronavirus:
- Pro-ivermectin treatment
- Pro-hydroxychloroquine treatment
- Anti-masks
- Anti-lockdown.
Climate and global warming:
- Renewables don’t work
- The Bureau of Meteorology commits fraud
- Historical high temperatures prove there is no global warming
- Extreme cold temperatures in Brazil.
The ABC:
- Infiltrated by China
- Socialists.
The United Nations:
- Pushing a socialist, globalist agenda.
The World Economic Forum:
- “Great Reset” is a Marxist plot to take your wealth.
We now know the breadth and depth of Kelly’s conspiracy beliefs due to the work of Tom Kristensen, a resident of Kelly’s south-west Sydney electorate of Hughes, who has mapped Kelly’s Facebook posts for more than a year and a half, back to April 2019.
Kristensen began the exercise of documenting Kelly’s Facebook posts at the beginning of 2020 at the height of Australia’s disastrous bushfires when Kelly chose to post a story about the freezing temperatures being experienced in Siberia, directly challenging global warming. Kelly later picked up the “green arson” conspiracy theme. Kristensen discovered to his surprise that Kelly posted next to nothing on local electorate matters.
He’s noticed a growing trend: “Kelly used to attract the old guy keyboard warriors, but since he started posting anti-vaccination messages he’s attracted a wider audience. You can see young mothers commenting favourably.”
Kelly’s Facebook followers have ballooned to more than 90,000, well in excess of nearly all other parliamentarians.
What emerges from his more than 2000 posts is the portrait of man who sees himself as a free thinker, fighting the tyranny of an authoritarian state. He quotes George Orwell several times on his Facebook page, ramming home the idea that man’s very freedom is at stake.
Favourite Orwell quotes include: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery”; “The further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those who speak it”; “In a time of universal deceit speaking the truth is a revolutionary act”; “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
The truth of Kelly, of course, is that he is about as far from an original thinker as you can be. His Facebook pages — and his mind — are ultimately a curated version of alt-right thinking, imported primarily from the United States. He quotes from a range of far-right sources including Breitbart, the Trump-supporting The Epoch Times, The Australian and, of course, Sky News, where he is a frequent guest.
Whether or not Kelly’s words influence anyone much is open to question. His greatest sin may be that via his Facebook posts he acts as a taxpayer-funded, Morrison government-backed amplifier of far-right sources with whom he has a mutually dependent relationship.
Craig is merely auditioning for his next gig post Parliament. It’s hard to see him being saved by a 4th successive Captain’s Call. So stay tuned for “Dumb as a Bag of Hammers with Craig Kelly” on Sky AfterDark sometime soon.
Unless of course he threatens to spill the beans on the inside workings of Morrison’s rise to the leadership of the LNP. Was Cormann’s defection to Dutton really the most spectacular false flag operation in Australian political history? Perhaps Craig can tell all?
You wonder about those captain’s calls. Is it just that the Libs think it’s the only way to retain the far right loony vote? Or something more sinister….
Inside the mind?? Listen to the echoes in that empty space…
“the mind”. Yes, Mr Hardaker’s being way too generous.
And to think he probably wouldn’t have been there if not for the urgings of Scotty FM.
But to be fair even conspiracies need a boof over their head.
Interesting that Albo’s questions to Scotty were deemed out of order by the Speaker, because it seems that discipline, maintaining order and a semblance of responsible government is not part of the PM’s portfolio of responsibilities.
Scotty FMPM answers to a higher order than us punters – his ego.
The “Member for Crook”?
Yep.
Smoco isn’t that brave – he gave up his ego when he attached himself to Rupert’s cloaca
Shows how desperate Sky is if Kelly is a frequent guest, how low can you go Mr Murdoch?
Pigs and Pig Styes go together, and Murdoch is one of the greatest pigs the world has produced….With Kelly it is hard to tell whether he is one of the pigs, or just the muck underfoot…
A bit more respect for pigs, please, Fairmind. And less for Kelly.
Totally unfair to all pigs who are much cleaner than either of these scum.
Bit hard on pigs, poor ol’ pigs.
The Dirty Digger can dig a very deep hole.
Murdoch is in so deep @ low, whale shyt could not find him!
It’s Craig Kelly who best exemplifies that familiar railway station announcement: “Mind – the gap!”