Police target anti-vax protesters over COVID jab rollout fears
Police fear anti-vaxxers plan to target vaccination centres, and plan to crack down on militant members of the movement.
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Police are drawing up a hit list of anti-vaccination protesters amid fears that vaccination hubs and storage facilities could be targeted.
Senior figures in government and law enforcement hold serious concerns that militant protesters could disrupt the rollout of the vaccine.
With protesters again out in force on Saturday, the Sunday Herald Sun can reveal that a specialist team of detectives has been set up by the Australian Federal Police to crack down on anti-vaxxers.
Investigators from Taskforce Lotus are on standby to be deployed in the event of a major security breach involving the vaccine.
A 24/7 team, the Joint Intelligence Group, has also been established by the Department of Home Affairs to centralise all information regarding the anti-vaccination movement and vaccine security.
The group is made up of agencies including the AFP, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Australian Border Force and state police forces.
It can also be revealed that specific information about where vaccines are stored in hubs is being kept secret over security concerns.
The Sunday Herald Sun has been told that authorities are particularly concerned about an attack on a vaccine storage facility by the anti-vaccination movement.
Another concern for police is fraud activity related to vaccine certificates.
“Everybody is concerned about this … we don’t want them destroying vials (of vaccine),” a law enforcement source said.
In a submission to a federal inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia last week, the AFP warned of the increasing risk of violence from the anti-vaccination movement.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated a range of anti-government, anti-vaccination and pro-conspiracy narratives raising public awareness of different issue motivated groups,” it says.
“The AFP will become involved where such groups support or seek to use violence.
“Law enforcement experiences in 2020 identified an emerging trend of online extremists exploiting the increased public fear, isolation, unemployment, family stress and financial hardship associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Victoria Police also flagged fears about the anti-vaccination movement in its submission to the same inquiry.
Anti-vaxxers descended on federal Health Minister Greg Hunt’s office on the Mornington Peninsula on Saturday to rally against the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.
A heavy police presence greeted about 200 people who gathered in Somerville to claim the vaccine was not safe and “freedom of choice has been taken away”. They also chanted “we are coming”.
MEET THE MYTH MAKERS
MONICA SMIT
With almost 60,000 followers for her Reignite Democracy Australia Facebook site, Monica Smit claims to be close to MP Craig Kelly as she pushes to form her own anti-vax We Are Coming political movement.
On Saturday Ms Smit claimed she was starting a movement.
“We are not going to be aggressive towards the police. It just makes us look bad. We have truth on our side.
“It’s been absolutely fantastic. I couldn’t have wished for a better day actually. I’m really proud of everyone that came. It was totally peaceful.”
“(Chief Commissioner) Shane Patton actually has the opportunity to say no to Daniel Andrews. He can say ‘no, these are unlawful directions, I’m not going to follow it’. Maybe that time is coming. With all the influencers together, we’ve got over a million voters. Greg Hunt and his colleagues
MATT LAWSON
Vaccine conspiracy theorist Matt Lawson shared a speech from a protest on Friday to his Facebook page.
Earlier this month Mr Lawson — a member of anti-vax group United Collective — streamed himself live on Instagram visiting a Melbourne nursing home at night trying to drop pamphlets with misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Despite telling the gathering he would be “talking straight facts, no conspiracies”, Mr Lawson again launched into a number of baseless conspiracies such as suggesting high school students can receive the COVID-19 vaccine without their parents’ consent.
“Principals can decide if kids are of a mature age to decide to have a vaccine,” he said.
“A school principal can work out if a child between year 7 and year 12 is mature enough to decide if they want a vaccine and vaccinate them on that day, without their consent.”
MORGAN C JONAS
Conspiracy theorist Morgan C Jonas, who boasts a Facebook following of more than 18,000 people and regularly hosts a 50-minute anti-vaccination social media show, also produces his own free “newsletter”.
In a video shared to his followers on Friday, Mr Jonas labelled Premier Daniel Andrews as “the real virus” and described the COVID-19 pandemic as the “greatest global scandal that we have witnessed in our entire life”.
“It’s almost as if Daniel Andrews is playing his cards simply so he can extend his power grab, because if you ask me, this man has totalitarianism in his eyes,” he said. “If Daniel Andrews truly believed that we were in a crisis situation right now, don’t you think he would have treated hotel quarantine a little more seriously?”
In an online video, Mr Jonas claimed the federal government was “removing the rights of parents to decide whether their children take the vaccine”.
“The government has made the decision that they know what is best for children, that they know better,” he said.
PETER LITTLE
Peter Little, a self-described “Natural Health Politics Advocate”, filmed himself driving to Greg Hunt’s office on Saturday to protest against the COVID vaccine rollout.
A long-time conspiracy theorist and former lawyer, Mr Little had to be removed from former Health Minister Jill Hennessy’s office in 2018 after demanding to know her vaccination history.
A prolific poster of anti-vaccination conspiracy theories on Facebook, Mr Little repeated baseless claims that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have caused “a lot” of deaths in America.
He told the 1000-plus people who tuned into his live stream that the police were on their side.
“Luckily for us quite a lot of police are waking up. A few little birdies told us they’re starting to wake up and asking the right questions before they roll their sleeves up.”
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