Opinion: Australia is descending into dictatorship and this must be stopped because if Australia falls, so will the United States. That, at least, is the narrative a group of American conspiracy theorists is spreading | parnellpalme
in New York. Freedom fighters from across the ocean made us aware of a concentration camp in the desert and alerted us to the plight of Indigenous Australians being rounded up and forcefully vaccinated.
Wild conspiracies almost always start with a grain of truth and, in Australia, there are many grains for the conspiracy molluscs to make pearls of. There have been some questionable uses of emergency powers during the pandemic. Our borders have been shut even to returning residents. Australians seeking to leave the country have had to apply for permits, like mistrusted Soviet subjects begrudgingly granted a pass through the iron curtain.
And where Australia does have a law relevant to the extraordinary circumstances of the times – namely that “all competent adults can consent to and refuse medical treatment”, specific vaccination mandates have left some people who are hesitant towards or opposed to the vaccine feeling like consent is at best manufactured.
Australian conspiracy theorists fed the myth developing 10,000 miles away with stories that fit the narrative, if not the facts. As outback drug and alcohol case manager Matthew Blackwell writes, “Those of us who live in the Northern Territory have watched in astonishment as British and American pundits with huge audiences have breathlessly promoted ... lunatic claims.” The theory was amplified in the US by YouTube personality Tim Pool, who broadcast it to his 1 million followers.