United Australia Party candidates spreading Russian propaganda on social media

One candidate for the United Australia Party has shared a number of conspiracy theories, including a post suggesting the Port Arthur massacre never happened.

Two Victorian candidates for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party have been caught out spreading Russian propaganda on social media about the war in Ukraine.

Higgins candidate Ingram Spencer has also shared QAnon conspiracy theories and a post about the Port Arthur massacre suggesting Australia’s worst mass shooting never happened.

The Herald Sun has uncovered Mr Spencer and Hawke candidate Andrew Cuthbertson’s pro-Russia posts after the United Australia Party disendorsed its Macnamara candidate for tweeting in defence of Russia and describing himself as supporter of President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Cuthbertson tweeted several times recently about a false narrative spread by Russia to help justify its invasion which suggested the United States was operating biological research facilities in Ukraine.

United Australia Party’s candidate for Higgins Ingram Spencer has shared QAnon conspiracy theories as well as pro-Russia posts.

The story spread quickly among US far-right groups and was also pushed by the Chinese government, with Mr Cuthbertson sharing a post from its ministry of foreign affairs which said the US had 26 labs in Ukraine and needed to “give a full account of its biological military activities at home and abroad and subject itself to multilateral verification”.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Russia was “intentionally spreading outright lies that the United States and Ukraine are conducting chemical and biological weapons activities”.

Mr Cuthbertson also liked tweets claiming the Ukraine invasion was “a bit of theatre played out via the media”, and that mainstream news stories about war crimes were “the perfect distraction from crimes against humanity and Nuremberg crimes during ‘pandemic’”.

Mr Spencer shared posts claiming Russian troops were assisting Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol, where as many as 20,000 have been killed amid allegations of war crimes.

One post he retweeted said Russian soldiers were helping those “the Ukrainians were shelling” in Mariupol and that they would be “evacuated to the safety of Russia”.

He also retweeted a meme suggesting mainstream media outlets were criticising Mr Putin because the Russian President said the “New World Order” – a totalitarian world government at the centre of a bizarre conspiracy theory – was “not welcome” in Russia.

United Australia Party’s candidate for Hawke Andrew Cuthbertson has tweeted several times about a false narrative spread by Russia to help justify its invasion.

The United Australia Party and the candidates did not respond to questions from the Herald Sun on Tuesday.

But parliamentary leader Craig Kelly told The Australian in February – when the Macnamara candidate was disendorsed – that it was “very important that the entire world is united in condemning Putin’s conduct to the Ukraine”.

The Herald Sun revealed on Tuesday that the Australian Federal Police was on alert after allegations of Mr Spencer behaving aggressively towards rival candidates in Higgins.

Originally published as United Australia Party candidates spreading Russian propaganda on social media