In front of 4000 fans in Sydney on Friday, one of the most influential conservative commentators in the world, Tucker Carlson, added another organisation to the progressives, academics, vaccine advocates, intelligence agencies and immigrants he holds responsible for the decline of Western civilisation: the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Earlier in the week, in Canberra, Carlson had taken a couple of questions from ABC defence correspondent Andrew Greene about Julian Assange and the AUKUS pact. Paul Sakkal, from The Age, asked about Carlson’s February interview with Vladimir Putin. Sakkal argued mainstream conservatives, including former Liberal prime minister John Howard, regard the Russian president as a tyrant and an opponent of Western values.