Outrage over Craig Kelly’s US riot conspiracy claims on Facebook
A federal Coalition MP who has previously shared conspiracy theories on Facebook has been criticised for his wild claim about the US riots.
Scott Morrison is being urged to rein in two Liberal MPs accused of spreading fake conspiracy theories over the US riots, anti-mask propaganda and using hair lice medication to treat COVID-19.
Sydney Liberal MP Craig Kelly has sparked fresh anger overnight with a new post claiming Facebook censorship is a bigger threat to democracy than the Washington DC riots and promoting conspiracy theories over who was responsible.
“What’s the greatest threat to democracy,” the post reads.
“A small group of protesters overdoing it, and invading a parliament for a short period time, and then leaving, enabling the parliament to recommence shortly after?
“Or a social media giant censoring and shutting down the account of a democratically elected leader.”
The veteran backbencher, who has built a huge online following with climate change denialist posts, also promoted conspiracy theories that the rioters wearing Trump T-shirts and banners were actually in disguise.
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The post is believed to be one of the most widely shared on Facebook of any Australian MP in the last 24 hours.
“Neo-Fascists and Marxists engaged in a highly co-ordinated ‘false flag’ operation, by infiltrating the protest and invading the Parliament so the world’s media would falsely blame and discredit Trump supporters,” he wrote.
The latest post follows months of pressure from Labor leader Anthony Albanese that the Prime Minister should take a stand over his own MPs promoting “crackpot” conspiracy theories and COVID-19 treatments.
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“The cowardly silence has to end Mr Morrison,” Labor’s legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said on Friday.
“This isn’t ‘free speech’, it’s the hand-picked member of your own government peddling dangerous conspiracy theories and justifying violence to overthrow democracy.”
Mr Kelly also regularly promotes a hair lice treatment – Ivermectin – as a COVID-19 treatment.
Previously, he ran an almost daily campaign to promote the drug Hydroxychloroquine, writing an open letter with Liberal backbencher George Christensen to lift a ban on the drug being prescribed as a COVID-19 treatment.
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Queensland MP Mr Christensen has also been busy posting material on his own Facebook page suggesting the US riots were not really Trump supporters but Marxists dressed up as Trump supporters.
“Here’s a video from the Washington, D.C. protest this morning showing a vandal smashing a window of the US Congress. A woman is heard yelling over and over again “They’re Antifa!” and “We need to get them … it’s not us!”
“Next minute, a dude wearing a MAGA cap throws the vandal to the ground and the crowd cheers,” the post states.
Asked about similar posts on Thursday, the Prime Minister said it was a “free country” before ending the press conference.
“Will you condemn conspiracy theories being promoted by members of your own Government?,” he was asked by a journalist.
“You know, Australia is a free country. There’s such a thing as freedom of speech in this country and that will continue,” he replied.
“Okay, well thank you all very much. I’ll see you here tomorrow.”
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