At least two Zoom meetings for volunteers campaigning in favour of the Indigenous voice to parliament have been “bombed” by people yelling racist messages and showing Nazi symbols.
Briefings for those seeking to volunteer for the yes side in Casey and Boroondara in Victoria were disrupted by people shouting racist abuse in the past two weeks.
One participant on the 3 August Casey call, who did not want to be named, said soon after the call began people shouting offensive lines about Indigenous Australians came into the group.
She said it felt like a coordinated attack. “They were all in masks, a swastika in the background,” she said. “Just horrifying, horrifying.”
“I don’t know how much they care about the no vote. I think they just want to be racist. [It’s] an opportunity for them to be seen. They like being seen.”
Anyone could register for the briefing, she said, and would automatically be sent a link to the Zoom event.
Screenshots seen by Guardian Australia show users in one Telegram group that shares far-right content discussing how to sign up for Yes23 online volunteer training to “crash” it, as well as entering their location to find out about events. “Good opportunity to troll,” one wrote in July.
The Casey for Yes account on Instagram posted that the incident “was targeted, confronting, organised and shocking”.
“We continued … because as a community of volunteers connected by purpose and values, we want to have a positive constructive discussion about respect, hope and reconciliation.”
A screenshot of the Boroondara briefing seen by Guardian Australia shows one person on the call with a swastika as their user picture. Another was named “George Floyd” in reference to the African American man murdered by Minneapolis police in 2020, which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.
According to volunteers, the participants shouted racist statements at those on the call.
Monique Ryan, the independent MP for Kooyong, which includes Boroondara, condemned those who bombed the call.
“This sort of behaviour is unfathomable for the vast majority of sensible Australians who are just trying to get the information they need to decide about the upcoming referendum,” she said. “We should be able to have public meetings about important matters without them being hijacked by the extreme right wing.”
Yes23 has given guidance to local supporter groups on security arrangements for online meetings.
The Casey volunteer said it made her worry about promoting future events.
“It’s bad enough trying to discredit some of the information that’s out there,” she said. “There’ll be a dangerous aspect to it now when we campaign.
“You can’t really advertise it online because they’ll target us.”
