What are the biggest threats to truth, democracy and personal freedoms in Australia?
Apparently, it’s not an Australian billionaire mining tycoon, nor a right-wing, conspiracy theorist media giant from the United States. In fact, such figures are putting on a conference to answer that very question.
Clive Palmer and his mining company, Mineralogy, is putting on the Australia Freedom Conference, coming to a city near you. It features a talk from former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, who is known for conducting particularly controversial interviews with high profile people including former US President Donald Trump, CEO of X Elon Musk and President of Russia Vladimir Putin.
Tickets cost anywhere between $115 to $275 to hear from Carlson, as well as special guests Dinesh D’Souza, an American filmmaker, and Dr Melissa McCann, a GP from Queensland. The conference is putting on six shows, touring in Cairns, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney in the coming weeks.
While the panel is set to cover a “range of topics” at the event, there is one common thread between the speakers: they all propagate scare campaigns that antagonise threats to their conservative viewpoints.
In the conference’s promotional video, Carlson said he was “thrilled” to receive a call from Clive Palmer, asking him to be part of the event.
“I’m so excited to come to Australia,” Carlson said.
“I will be talking about what is happening in your country (Australia) and ours (the US) – countries with common histories, common values, and common threats.”
Legendary Australian businessman Clive Palmer has organised the 'Australian Freedom Conference' which will begin next month! It will feature:
— Senator Babet (@senatorbabet) May 13, 2024
-Global phenomenon and media titan Tucker Carlson.
-Political commentator, author and filmmaker, Dinesh D'Souza, whose recent films… pic.twitter.com/4u1S05Qbni
Palmer describes Carlson as the “world’s number one journalist”, boasting “some of the world’s most compelling interviews with the most powerful political figures”.
Carlson is free to do such interviews with presidents facing 34 counts of fraud, or presidents breaking international laws in pursuit of a war against a neighbouring country, now that he has his own news network, rather unimaginatively named the Tucker Carlson Network.
In April last year, it was reported Carlson “agreed to part ways” with his former employer and Murdoch media channel, Fox News Network. According to reports from The Los Angeles Times, his departure from the network was in relation to a lawsuit filed by a former senior booking producer on his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight. The producer, Abby Grossberg, accused Carlson of sexism and enabling a hostile work environment.
Carlson has been with Fox since 2009, when he joined as a contributor, before he got his self-titled show in 2016. By 2022, Carlson became the most watched television host, averaging 3.32 million total viewers.
It’s safe to say his large viewership is garnered from right-wing conservatives. In the past, he has described protestors in the Black Lives Matter movements across the US as “criminal mobs”, whilst downplaying the January 6 attacks in Washington DC in 2021 as a peaceful movement. Carlson believes there is a “crisis of masculinity” and routinely presents his misogynist, homophobic and transphobic views on his programs, before and after his time at Fox.
In 2022, Carlson irresponsibly compared COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the US to the inhumane medical experiments conducted on civilians by the Nazi regime in Germany during World War 2.
It’s no wonder he has buddied up with Clive Palmer, whose revived political party, the United Australia Party, shares similar conspiratorial views of vaccines, government and “wokeness”.
To save you the $200 it will cost to hear what Carlson, Palmer and the gang have to say, I imagine the woke Lefties will be taking a hit at the conference, painted as the said threats to truth, democracy and personal freedoms.
So, is Carlson right? Does Australia share the same “common values and common threats” as the US? As long as Tucker Carlson and Clive Palmer are allowed to hold such events, we likely are. But to uncover what is truly threatening our society and freedoms, perhaps the pair don’t need a curated, conservative echo chamber – they need a mirror.