Thursday, October 05, 2023 10:11:20 PM
Americans know of these sort of lies -- How a soap opera star pushed a conspiracy theory linking the Voice to Parliament to a UN takeover
"‘We don’t interfere’: Russian envoy on Voice debate
"Australia misinformation, conspiracy, racism in view - ‘We forgive, but never forget’:
yes campaigner Rachel Perkins responds to Warren Mundine on Uluru statement" "
7.30 / By Michael Workman, Basel Hindeleh and Kevin Nguyen, ABC Investigations
Posted 14h ago, updated 10h ago
VIDEO - Voice to Parliament misinformation runs amok on social media.(Pat McGrath)
Voice referendum essentials:
* Look back at our live coverage from Thursday, October 5
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-05/voice-to-parliament-referendum-live-blog-october-5/102934804
* Voice to Parliament referendum explained
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-03/the-voice-referendum-everything-you-need-to-know/102895238
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stepped up to a press conference in Adelaide in late September to make a surprising clarification, that the Voice to Parliament was not a plot by the United Nations to take control of Australia.
"What has occurred during this campaign is a lot of information being put out there, including by some who know that it is not true … I've seen stuff saying that all private ownership would disappear, that it is about the United Nations taking control of Australia," he said.
A week later, it happened again, only this time his words were twisted and reappeared later that day in a misleadingly edited video which had him say: "The United Nations will control all land in Australia."
VIDEO -- The PM's comments about an "absurd" conspiracy theory were misleadingly edited and republished on social media.(ABC News)
[This YT contains the in context-out-of-context embedded video. Lead in to the embedded bit at 4:09]
In the past few weeks, a conspiracy theory suggesting the Voice is a secret plot devised by the UN to strip Australians of their private property and sovereignty has spread like wildfire.
Since early August, versions of a social media video promoting the baseless accusation have recorded nearly twice as many shares on Facebook as any content published by either the official Yes or No campaign.
Political extremism researcher Josh Roose described the popularity of the conspiracy as "incredibly corrosive to democracy".
"For it to be at a point where we now have people who are questioning whether this is some broader plot to control a lot of us and then to subject us to slavery and so on, it's not good for our country," Dr Roose said.
"It's not good for democracy at all levels."
The origins of the conspiracy about the UN being an instrument against Australian interests go back to at least the 1980s, but an analysis by ABC Investigations has traced how this false theory became a flashpoint in the Voice debate — and it started with a former soap opera star.
Down the rabbit hole
Nicola Charles was once the darling of Australian television, known for her role as Sarah Beaumont in the show Neighbours during the 90s.
When the pandemic struck, Charles began railing against lockdowns and vaccines under the moniker "The White Rabbit".
Earlier this year, she set her sights on the Voice to Parliament. In a recording posted to the video-hosting site Rumble in early August, she likened the Uluru Statement to a "communist takeover" and described it as "something very scary for Australians".
Nicola Charles talked about the conspiracy theory on her channel.(Rumble)
Making unsubstantiated claims, Charles said a Yes vote would result in a UN "coup" that would "appoint one man and one woman in every district" to do its bidding.
"It completely changes the law on jurisdiction," Charles said.
"This is an invasion by the one world government, the UN."
Conspiracies about the shadowy tendrils of the United Nations are not new. One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts made mention of this in his 2016 maiden speech, and in late July incorrectly claimed a successful Yes vote would "surrender many controls and rights to the UN" ..
.. https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/why-albanese-needs-to-establish-an-indigenous-voice-to-sign-a-treaty/?fbclid=IwAR2FXHrM4LQnzxpWELBcFnsJ0O80g3JDjyY6UmDFeZfc9PeKfeyNZs25ezs ,
However, Charles's video appears to have caught the imagination of tens of thousands of Australians. Copies have been reposted dozens of times in Australian local community Facebook groups and other spaces discussing the referendum.
[How many of those "tens of thousands of Australians" are Russian or Chinese
or other dangerous anti-democracy bots, even Sod could not possibly know.]
An ABC analysis found versions of her video have been shared on Facebook more than 25,000 times and have accrued more than 500,000 views since it was published in August.
By comparison, the most shared video post by Fair Australia — which runs the official No vote campaign — has been shared almost 17,000 times. A video published by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has also been shared more than 16,000 times.
The Yes campaign's top video has been shared only 3,800 times.
Ms Charles told ABC Investigations she did not want the government to focus solely on "minority issues".
[Column graph]
Disinformation analyst for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), Elise Thomas, said the fearmongering around the seizure of private property resonated strongly with Australians.
"This in particular is chiming with kind of the Australian psyche, [that] this is a land grab, that they're coming to steal your backyard, and that connects with some of the rhetoric we had around native title," she said.
She said Nicola Charles's remarks about property rights seizures were at the "outlandish" end of the spectrum, but similar false claims about land rights and the UN had become prominent, making their way into the mainstream.
[Better dangerously damaging than "outlandish."]
Support for Indigenous Australians
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line 13YARN ..
https://www.13yarn.org.au/ .. on 13 92 76
eSafety Commission's First Nations resources ..
https://www.esafety.gov.au/first-nations
For example, former Liberal MP Nicolle Flint suggested on Sky News in May that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Australia is a non-binding signatory of, could lead to a separate Indigenous nation in Australia.
Ms Flint's claim has also been debunked by legal experts ..
https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/factlab-meta/un-not-advocating-for-an-indigenous-nation-within-australia .
Senator Hanson has repeatedly fanned fears over native title claims in the lead-up to the referendum while Senator Roberts has also suggested the United Nations has an interest in native title claims.
[[...]Good story. B402 enables envy and need. Excerpt -- "In Australia, the pandemic has exposed the limitations of the populist right wing. It has affirmed political support for governments that have made responsible, science-based responses and controlled the plague.
P - The Queensland state election last week is the latest proof point. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party were smashed in their home state. The Labor government of Annastacia Palaszczuk was returned for a third term with an enlarged majority.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=172003136&txt2find=%22Pauline%20Hanson%22]
Dr Roose told the ABC he is concerned by how "normalised" conspiracy theories are, and how often they have flowed into the public discourse via politicians and media commentators.
"It's where it's echoed by prominent politicians, prominent media commentators, and diffused that way that it starts to become part of the conversation," Dr Roose said.
"That's where it's most problematic."
Demonstrators held up signs referring to the conspiracy at a rally in Sydney on September 23. (AFP: David Gray)
The UN conspiracy theory has at times proved to be difficult territory for the official No campaign.
In late September, high-profile No campaigner senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price appeared at an anti-Voice town hall meeting in south-west Sydney. She was asked by an attendee if the Voice was a "United Nations land grab".
Senator Price responded that she did not know "if the Voice is on the same agenda" but added land claims would "come thick and fast" if a Yes vote was successful.
Versions of Charles's video continue to circulate on Facebook, with at least one version being labelled as "partly false information" by Meta, which operates the social media platform.
Ms Thomas said conspiracy theories surrounding the Voice have become part of "this giant soup of conspiratorial beliefs" that will endure long after the referendum.
Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV
Want to know more about the Voice referendum?Carousel
[...]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-05/united-nations-voice-conspiracy-misinformation-spread-revealed/102932852
Sky News, you know, is one of your-now Rupert Murdoch's abominations.
"‘We don’t interfere’: Russian envoy on Voice debate
"Australia misinformation, conspiracy, racism in view - ‘We forgive, but never forget’:
yes campaigner Rachel Perkins responds to Warren Mundine on Uluru statement" "
7.30 / By Michael Workman, Basel Hindeleh and Kevin Nguyen, ABC Investigations
Posted 14h ago, updated 10h ago
VIDEO - Voice to Parliament misinformation runs amok on social media.(Pat McGrath)
Voice referendum essentials:
* Look back at our live coverage from Thursday, October 5
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-05/voice-to-parliament-referendum-live-blog-october-5/102934804
* Voice to Parliament referendum explained
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-03/the-voice-referendum-everything-you-need-to-know/102895238
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stepped up to a press conference in Adelaide in late September to make a surprising clarification, that the Voice to Parliament was not a plot by the United Nations to take control of Australia.
"What has occurred during this campaign is a lot of information being put out there, including by some who know that it is not true … I've seen stuff saying that all private ownership would disappear, that it is about the United Nations taking control of Australia," he said.
A week later, it happened again, only this time his words were twisted and reappeared later that day in a misleadingly edited video which had him say: "The United Nations will control all land in Australia."
VIDEO -- The PM's comments about an "absurd" conspiracy theory were misleadingly edited and republished on social media.(ABC News)
[This YT contains the in context-out-of-context embedded video. Lead in to the embedded bit at 4:09]
In the past few weeks, a conspiracy theory suggesting the Voice is a secret plot devised by the UN to strip Australians of their private property and sovereignty has spread like wildfire.
Since early August, versions of a social media video promoting the baseless accusation have recorded nearly twice as many shares on Facebook as any content published by either the official Yes or No campaign.
Political extremism researcher Josh Roose described the popularity of the conspiracy as "incredibly corrosive to democracy".
"For it to be at a point where we now have people who are questioning whether this is some broader plot to control a lot of us and then to subject us to slavery and so on, it's not good for our country," Dr Roose said.
"It's not good for democracy at all levels."
The origins of the conspiracy about the UN being an instrument against Australian interests go back to at least the 1980s, but an analysis by ABC Investigations has traced how this false theory became a flashpoint in the Voice debate — and it started with a former soap opera star.
Down the rabbit hole
Nicola Charles was once the darling of Australian television, known for her role as Sarah Beaumont in the show Neighbours during the 90s.
When the pandemic struck, Charles began railing against lockdowns and vaccines under the moniker "The White Rabbit".
Earlier this year, she set her sights on the Voice to Parliament. In a recording posted to the video-hosting site Rumble in early August, she likened the Uluru Statement to a "communist takeover" and described it as "something very scary for Australians".
Nicola Charles talked about the conspiracy theory on her channel.(Rumble)
Making unsubstantiated claims, Charles said a Yes vote would result in a UN "coup" that would "appoint one man and one woman in every district" to do its bidding.
"It completely changes the law on jurisdiction," Charles said.
"This is an invasion by the one world government, the UN."
Conspiracies about the shadowy tendrils of the United Nations are not new. One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts made mention of this in his 2016 maiden speech, and in late July incorrectly claimed a successful Yes vote would "surrender many controls and rights to the UN" ..
.. https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/why-albanese-needs-to-establish-an-indigenous-voice-to-sign-a-treaty/?fbclid=IwAR2FXHrM4LQnzxpWELBcFnsJ0O80g3JDjyY6UmDFeZfc9PeKfeyNZs25ezs ,
However, Charles's video appears to have caught the imagination of tens of thousands of Australians. Copies have been reposted dozens of times in Australian local community Facebook groups and other spaces discussing the referendum.
[How many of those "tens of thousands of Australians" are Russian or Chinese
or other dangerous anti-democracy bots, even Sod could not possibly know.]
An ABC analysis found versions of her video have been shared on Facebook more than 25,000 times and have accrued more than 500,000 views since it was published in August.
By comparison, the most shared video post by Fair Australia — which runs the official No vote campaign — has been shared almost 17,000 times. A video published by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has also been shared more than 16,000 times.
The Yes campaign's top video has been shared only 3,800 times.
Ms Charles told ABC Investigations she did not want the government to focus solely on "minority issues".
[Column graph]
Disinformation analyst for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), Elise Thomas, said the fearmongering around the seizure of private property resonated strongly with Australians.
"This in particular is chiming with kind of the Australian psyche, [that] this is a land grab, that they're coming to steal your backyard, and that connects with some of the rhetoric we had around native title," she said.
She said Nicola Charles's remarks about property rights seizures were at the "outlandish" end of the spectrum, but similar false claims about land rights and the UN had become prominent, making their way into the mainstream.
[Better dangerously damaging than "outlandish."]
Support for Indigenous Australians
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line 13YARN ..
https://www.13yarn.org.au/ .. on 13 92 76
eSafety Commission's First Nations resources ..
https://www.esafety.gov.au/first-nations
For example, former Liberal MP Nicolle Flint suggested on Sky News in May that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Australia is a non-binding signatory of, could lead to a separate Indigenous nation in Australia.
Ms Flint's claim has also been debunked by legal experts ..
https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/factlab-meta/un-not-advocating-for-an-indigenous-nation-within-australia .
Senator Hanson has repeatedly fanned fears over native title claims in the lead-up to the referendum while Senator Roberts has also suggested the United Nations has an interest in native title claims.
[[...]Good story. B402 enables envy and need. Excerpt -- "In Australia, the pandemic has exposed the limitations of the populist right wing. It has affirmed political support for governments that have made responsible, science-based responses and controlled the plague.
P - The Queensland state election last week is the latest proof point. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party were smashed in their home state. The Labor government of Annastacia Palaszczuk was returned for a third term with an enlarged majority.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=172003136&txt2find=%22Pauline%20Hanson%22]
Dr Roose told the ABC he is concerned by how "normalised" conspiracy theories are, and how often they have flowed into the public discourse via politicians and media commentators.
"It's where it's echoed by prominent politicians, prominent media commentators, and diffused that way that it starts to become part of the conversation," Dr Roose said.
"That's where it's most problematic."
Demonstrators held up signs referring to the conspiracy at a rally in Sydney on September 23. (AFP: David Gray)
The UN conspiracy theory has at times proved to be difficult territory for the official No campaign.
In late September, high-profile No campaigner senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price appeared at an anti-Voice town hall meeting in south-west Sydney. She was asked by an attendee if the Voice was a "United Nations land grab".
Senator Price responded that she did not know "if the Voice is on the same agenda" but added land claims would "come thick and fast" if a Yes vote was successful.
Versions of Charles's video continue to circulate on Facebook, with at least one version being labelled as "partly false information" by Meta, which operates the social media platform.
Ms Thomas said conspiracy theories surrounding the Voice have become part of "this giant soup of conspiratorial beliefs" that will endure long after the referendum.
Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV
Want to know more about the Voice referendum?Carousel
[...]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-05/united-nations-voice-conspiracy-misinformation-spread-revealed/102932852
Sky News, you know, is one of your-now Rupert Murdoch's abominations.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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