Peter Dutton blasts QAnon and other online conspiracy groups

Peter Dutton has launched an extraordinary spray against QAnon and other fringe groups peddling conspiracy theories on the internet.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has unloaded on QAnon and other fringe online groups spreading “unbelievably dangerous” conspiracy theories.

Mr Dutton said “garbage” online conspiracies were putting everyday Australians at risk.

“You see some of these stories where people who are educated, they've got good relationships, and they’ve been successful in life, otherwise, they seem to be sucked in or drawn in by a lot of this garbage online,” Mr Dutton told Nine on Thursday.

“People could maintain a view that 9/11 didn‘t take place, or that it was some conspiracy by the government or that, these kids haven’t actually died at the schools (in school shootings).

He added anyone who has noticed a “radical departure” from a loved one’s normal behaviour should contact authorities.

“You just don‘t know where it ends up,” Mr Dutton said.

Peter Dutton has sounded the alarm on the everyday Aussie being sucked into a conspiracy. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“I mean, it‘s, it’s a mental illness that they’ve got, and it needs to be addressed before they can do more damage

The defence minister slammed the “self-serving” faceless men and women who sought to make money out of conspiracies online.

“They couldn’t care less about the health of these people that are indoctrinated; theirs is a business model and it’s a very dangerous one,” he said.

During Mr Dutton’s radio appearance, host Ray Hadley played a clip from a woman who claimed 9/11 had yet to be proven.

The defence minister called the claim “madness”.

“When you start delving into these conspiracy theories and rewriting history and you‘re relying on some of this propaganda that’s been distributed, I think you’re in a bad space,” he said.

Authorities are concerned the more time people spend online due to lockdowns, the more susceptible they are to conspiracy content.

A parliamentary inquiry last month heard the internet has created a petri dish of far-right extremism in Australia.

Australia’s spy agency chief Mike Burgess told a Senate hearing ASIO’s domestic onshore counter-terrorism caseload was being increasingly taken up by right-wing extremism.

“People being online have potentially been subject to information that has helped put them up a path of radicalisation,” he said.

“Obviously with lockdowns, they don‘t benefit from the social interactions that tend to normalise what people get through their online interactions.”

Originally published as Peter Dutton blasts QAnon and other online conspiracy groups