The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is investigating whether a website registered to a One Nation candidate soliciting donations on behalf of "freedom fighting" election hopefuls has breached political authorisation rules.
The Join The Conversation website, registered to the candidate for the seat of Brisbane, Rebecca Lloyd, purports to be a platform to connect voters to local minor party candidates.
But it only allows voters to see candidates from the United Australia Party (UAP), One Nation and the Great Australian Party, despite claiming to list candidates from all parties, except those endorsed by Labor, the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens.
The sole independent candidate listed is Kelli Jacobi, who has shared COVID-19 conspiracy theories on her Facebook page.
Join The Conversation's YouTube videos include instructional "how to vote" videos directing voters to preference "freedom fighting candidates" from the minor parties.
The "freedom movement" is a loose coalition of groups and personalities which came to prominence during the pandemic by opposing lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
Some people from this movement are now attempting to enter federal politics or throw their support behind certain like-minded candidates.
Ms Lloyd, after being contacted by the ABC last night, said she had sold her "shares" in Join The Conversation to ensure she ran "a clean campaign".
The Join The Conversation website appears to be part of a push to more formally connect voters to the loosely organised coalition of "freedom" parties, including the Great Australian Party, UAP and One Nation.
The website features donations packages "to help your local candidates" ranging from $20 for a letterbox drop flyer to $2,500 for a full ad package to be featured in newspapers, on bus shelters and billboards.
The donations page included mock-ups of advertising material in which One Nation candidate Ms Lloyd was described as an "independent" on flyers which included how-to-vote instructions.
The images had no political authorisation and were removed on Monday afternoon after One Nation was contacted by the ABC.
Deakin University political sociologist Josh Roose said candidates purporting to be independents could be attempting to gain voter trust.
"This is about this broader global populist surge that we are seeing, where candidates paint themselves as untainted by the system," Dr Roose said.
"Now these are very often the same old people dressed up in a new sentiment and a new movement.
"We know there is record distrust [in politics] … and for that reason they are seeking to cloak certain actors, certain political parties in that independent garb.
The Join The Conversation donation page states, "We value transparency, especially for campaign donations," and adds: "When you donate, you'll be able to see exactly where your money is going."
However, donations made on the website through the Stripe payment system resulted in a credit card charge to "Join The Conversation" which does not appear to be listed as a registered business or company under that name.
No further information or receipt was sent to donors.
The donation link was removed from the website on Monday afternoon after questions from the ABC.
A spokesperson for Join The Conversation, who did not identify themselves, said it had "entered into a printing agreement with a commercial printer and all community donations will be equally shared amongst the freedom candidates".
The spokesperson declined to say whether the website was run by Ms Lloyd, but said its "website and website hosting has been generously gifted by a local small business owner who is not a member of any political party".
Queensland businessman Peter Cutforth took to Join The Conversation's Facebook page on Monday to defend the website, saying it was "built solely by myself and my team as a 100% donation".
He said it was built due to concerns about "subservience to globalist dictators and narratives around COVID" and "profit-hungry big-Pharma, and globalist powers-that-be".
Mr Cutforth did not respond to questions by the time of publication.
The Join The Conversation Facebook page was launched last month and has run three ads targeting voters in Queensland, offering to put them in contact with their local minor party candidates.
The mobile phone number listed for the advertisements was answered by Ms Lloyd, who also declined to comment.
Ms Lloyd later texted the ABC to say she had sold her "shares" in Join The Conversation, but declined to answer further questions.
Ms Lloyd worked as a cabaret singer, actor and children's storyteller before being announced as the One Nation candidate for Brisbane this month. She sometimes appeared in the storytelling performances dressed as a Disney-like princess.
She runs a popular anti-vaccine mandate business group called Fair Business Australia and regularly hosts live-streamed videos on its Facebook page, directing viewers to the Join The Conversation website.
An AEC spokesperson said it "was looking at this website and associated material".
"If it does require an authorisation, our first step is always to reach out to the person or entity responsible to seek that one is applied or the communication ceases," the spokesperson said.
One Nation, the UAP and the Great Australian Party did not respond to requests for comment.
