Waleed Aly shuts down The Project co-host Kate Langbroek over bizarre ‘conspiracy’ rant

Waleed Aly has shut down his Project co-host over an odd rant about one of the most bizarre conspiracy theories on the planet.

Waleed Aly has shut down The Project co-host Kate Langbroek after she launched into a bizarre conspiracy theory rant on Tuesday night.

The discussion occurred during a segment on the 15-minute city conspiracy that has recently exploded around the world, including here in Australia.

The 15-minute city concept is a simple one – everyday essentials such as healthcare, schools, work, shops and eateries should be a convenient 15-minute walk, cycle or public transport trip away to make life more enjoyable and sustainable.

However, it has been hijacked by conspiracists, who claim it’s all part of a grand master plan by global elites to lock down and control the population.

After a video package explaining the concept and the associated conspiracy, Langbroek told the panel she enjoyed certain conspiracies, and was asked whether she believed in this one – which is when things took an odd turn.

Kate Langbroek insisted there was a ‘battle for control of people’. Picture: Channel 10

“Um, well, I don’t know about you, but I have been locked down by governments recently, so I’m like, it’s kind of an easy thing to go, ‘oh, conspiracy theorists’, however, let us just remember this – that in the 1600s a guy called Galileo was put in jail, and I think died in jail, because he said the earth went around the sun,” Langbroek began.

That prompted Aly to sarcastically chime in: “Oh well, that’s that then”.

“OK, because that at the time was considered to be heresy, and now we know it to be the truth,” Langbroek continued.

“Yeah, but that’s not a conspiracy,” Aly argued.

“It was then Waleed!” a frustrated Langbroek replied, with Aly asking her to explain what the conspiracy actually was.

“The conspiracy was that what he believed was wrong, what he was telling people was wrong,” she said.

Aly acknowledged he could “see what you’re saying”, but argued it was a “slightly different argument”.

“I’m just feeling increasingly like there’s a battle for control of people, clearly, everywhere you go, there are cameras, everywhere you go – I just think, I don’t think conspiracy theorists in some cases are that crazy,” Langbroek continued.

But Waleed Aly wasn’t buying it. Picture: Channel 10

Co-host Sarah Harris then interjected to lighten the mood, joking that a conspiracy theory that all birds were actually robots “is pretty crazy though”, prompting a strange reply from Langbroek.

“I don’t know about all of them, but I do know birds have got tiny little brains capable of anything … easily influenced like the sheep,” she said, before bleating on air.

“I guess the case has been made,” Aly said.

“I get the idea that people are losing trust in government and things like that … but the problem is the logical extension of that is any time someone comes up with what might be a good idea, we’ll just want to kill it because we’ll decide it’s a conspiracy somehow.”

The Project debate comes as the 15-minute city issue continues to blow up across the world, with thousands of protesters attending the Stop Oxford: No 15 Minute Cities community day of action in Oxford in the UK over the weekend.

The Stop Oxford: No 15 Minute Cities community day of action attracted thousands of protesters.

Critics claim 15-minute cities are a deliberate strategy to turn neighbourhoods into “concentration camps”, with many convinced they will somehow lead to surveillance tracking our every movement, that people will be banned from driving or cop heavy fines, and that people will be barricaded in their “zones” and unable to move freely around the city without “permits”.

However, supporters insist those draconian restrictions are pure fantasy, and that it’s simply an urban planning initiative designed to make city spaces more walkable and enjoyable for all.

Originally published as Waleed Aly shuts down The Project co-host Kate Langbroek over bizarre ‘conspiracy’ rant