Australia’s far-right and conspiracy communities are spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and hate speech in opposition to the Voice to Parliament, as false claims about the referendum spread widely online.
These baseless theories repurpose common claims that conspiracy boogeymen like the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, multinational corporations and prominent Australian Jewish citizens are hatching a plot to usurp Australian sovereignty using the Voice.
One viral piece of conspiracy content is a Substack post that weaves in 15-minute cities, climate denialism and fears of “transhumanism”, and claims that the Voice to Parliament will be used to forcibly obtain Australian farmland.
“The Voice is truly about creating a ‘Blak facade’ in which the Globalist Parasites hope to execute the allocation of privately owned land out of the hands of the ‘Whites,’ and into their exclusive control,” it reads.
The post has thousands of engagements and more than a thousand shares on Facebook, according to social media analysis tool CrowdTangle, as well as hundreds of shares across various Telegram conspiracy and fringe communities.
Other versions of this conspiracy theory, propagated by figures such as Australian neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell and QAnon believer Josephine Cashman, claim that the supposed land grab is about taking control of Australia’s lithium mines or instituting a shadowy one-world government.
Long-time Indigenous constitutional recognition activist and businessman Mark Leibler and former Liberal Party spokesperson for Indigenous affairs Julian Leeser are frequently identified by conspiracy theorists as the “masterminds” behind the Voice. Leibler joins figures like World Economic Forum chair Klaus Schwab and businessman George Soros as Jewish figures who’ve become the subject of thinly veiled versions of the centuries-old anti-Semitic “Jewish puppetmaster” conspiracy theory.
Many of these outlandish claims harken back to older conspiracy theories about Indigenous land claims. A 1982 book Red Over Black: Behind Aboriginal Land Rights, and its subsequent film adaptation, written by a former Australian communist who claims that land claims are “communist use of Aboriginal issues to advance own ends”, are being shared among online conspiracy communities.
Conspiracy-influenced Indigenous sovereign citizen figures and groups are also spreading misinformation about the Voice to Parliament. While claiming that the Australian government is illegitimate, online posts that raise unfounded concerns that a Voice would undermine claims of Indigenous sovereignty have been widely shared.
Online communities and accounts have emerged specifically to spread hate speech and misinformation about the Voice, some with tens of thousands of followers. These accounts spread debunked ideas about the Voice introducing a tax on non-Indigenous Australians and changing Australia Day, while also sharing racist, anti-vaccine and election fraud claims.
Earlier this year, both the government and the eSafety commissioner urged tech companies to act on misinformation and hate speech in the lead-up to the referendum. Voice campaigns have also raised concerns about poor-quality information and misinformation being published in the mainstream media. The Australian Electoral Commission has launched a public education campaign about the referendum process.
Maybe it would be good to publicise this stuff, with a heading like: “Thinking of voting NO?” This is the company you’ll be in!
There are probably less than a dozen actual people promoting this nonsense, probably American, weaponizing (anti)Social Media algorithms to give the impression of a much larger movement.
What good would it do to a bunch of people for whom up is down and black is white? Labeling them racist does no good, they are convinced in their heart of hearts that it’s the Voice that enshrines racism – by dint of the fact it is catering to a minority group – at the expense of whites. Point out their being adjacent to Sewell and the most egregious examples of white nationalism and they deny the link outright – as did a friend who I tried to convince recently of the commonality of cause between Neo Nazis and the anti-trans movement. And while the majority of Australians are unlikely to subscribe to the kind of conspiracy theories around the voice turbo-charged by recent years of anti-vax nuttiness, there is a political apathy coupled with a kind of civic dementia that is just prevalent enough to allow the “do-your-own-research” school of science and current affairs to exist like a weeping chancroid on the margins of public debate. Open the comments to any News.com.au article on Facebook and you’ll see what I mean – adults convinced that falsehoods including that Ernie Dingo invented the Welcome to Country ceremony are fact and that in spite of four decades of overwhelming neo-liberal consensus from both major parties, that Australia is somehow beholden to “communists”. Confront the more bellicose of these morons and you descend into a whirlpool of logical fallacy – red herrings and false equivalencies abundant; while those who waver still cannot disabuse themselves of their heartfelt belief in the supremacy of white, western civilization, and the benefits it has brought the “ungrateful” blackfella. I’ve stopped arguing the points and just disengage – I just can’t sail in this ship of fools anymore. Please tell me I’m wrong.
I’m not on social media, and there’s days I rely on Cam Wilson to remind me why.
ACL , well Martin Iles, was telling Christians to refuse to Acknowledgement to country on the basis it was support for paganism.
Thanks, Cam. As informative and disturbing as all this is, I got a real laugh from “One viral piece of conspiracy content is a Substack post that weaves in 15-minute cities, climate denialism and fears of “transhumanism”, and claims that the Voice to Parliament will be used to forcibly obtain Australian farmland”. What a fantastic salad of conspiracies that is – hee hee hee 🙂
Yes, it smacks of ”Land rights for gay whales” which did the rounds in the early 1970’s. They’re all funny until you realise that some people actually believe them.
The lies about Native Title, the Apology , the Intervention and now the Voice… why do people trust these groups?
i trust Noel Pearson over the naysayers on this one his call