The Australian Electoral Commission is investigating a Facebook page that is linked to a One Nation candidate and promotes candidates opposed to vaccination mandates.
Join The Conversation is described as a community forum “that connects minor candidates with local voters”. However, its website and social media accounts appear to promote a catalogue of mostly One Nation and United Australia Party candidates who heavily oppose vaccination mandates.
The Facebook page does not carry an authorisation statement required for political content from parties or candidates, despite a domain search for its associated website showing it is registered to One Nation candidate for Brisbane, Rebecca Lloyd, and a company called Fair Business Australia.
The Fair Business Australia site was registered under Lloyd’s ABN last October and describes itself as a “bipartisan … alliance of small business owners, committed to freedom of choice” regarding vaccination status.
Evan Ekin-Smyth, an AEC spokesperson, said electoral communication material, which includes social media accounts and websites, must have an authorisation statement so that voters can see who is responsible for them.
Facebook posts generally do not require authorisation statements if the main account has one in its bio.
Several Facebook posts on the Join The Conversation page have been authorised by Lloyd, however three advertisements on Facebook targeting Queenslanders did not include any authorisation.
“😠Disillusioned with the Major Parties? 😠,” one active ad reads. “Join The Conversation is a community hub that connects minor candidates with local voters.”
Ekin-Smyth said the commission would examine the Facebook page and advertisements.
“There are potential civil penalties [for not including an authorisation statement] but our first port of call is always to get it corrected.
“If it’s needed, we’d get in contact with them and ask them to apply one.”
Guardian Australia contacted Lloyd and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party seeking to confirm who was running the Join The Conversation website and social media pages.
Instead, we received a statement from an email address called Join The Conversation which said the site was “not endorsed by any party, nor has it, or will it, receive funds of any kind from any political party.”
The unnamed spokesperson also 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” and lists “candidates from all parties, except Labor, Liberal, Nationals and Greens”.
A search of the site found it excludes several high-profile independent candidates, such as Jacqui Lambie, Zoe Daniel, Zali Steggall, Nick Xenophon, Jo Dyer, Helen Haines, Monique Ryan, Georgia Steele, Penny Ackery, Sophie Scamps and Linda Seymour, among others.
Peter Cutforth identified himself as one of those responsible for building and hosting the website for free, but said he was not responsible for its content.
“The JoinTheConversation website was built solely by myself and my team as a 100% donation from mid March to current date and ongoing. One of my companies also hosts the site pro bono,” he said in a Facebook comment.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, Cutforth confirmed he was the owner of a web development agency that built the site as a donation to Join the Conversation but said he did not own the website itself.
“I do not own the domain that is pointed to the website. Any content on the website has been placed there at the provision and direction of the owner,” he said.
Cutforth did not answer questions about Lloyd’s involvement or whether he was aware that AEC was looking into the Facebook page and advertisements.
“As I am not the owner of the site, and am merely a third-party website developer, I cannot make any other comment,” he said.
Lloyd has cited Join The Conversation and Fair Business Australia – previously known as “No Vax Id” – on her Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
Lloyd’s profile of the site says the former singer turned small business consultant stands for “ending all mandates and ensuring unelected bureaucrats never interfere with our freedoms again”.
The site also includes an interview with Jason Miles, a Senate candidate for the Great Australian Party, who claims he does not support globalisation or “the current fluoridation of drinking water under current legislation”.
The Join the Conversation website also includes a section soliciting donations to help fund candidates’ marketing activities.
In examples of how donations would be spent, mock flyers for Rebecca Lloyd and another One Nation candidate are shown.
Join The Conversation said it has “entered into a printing agreement with a commercial printer and all community donations will be equally shared amongst the freedom candidates”.
“A full financial report of donations received and sent to the commercial printer will be readily and publicly available after the election,” they said.
