Mind-bending conspiracy theories are nothing new to One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, who is currently under pressure over sharing a social media post featuring a notorious antisemitic mural, among other controversies.
Long before he became a One Nation senator in 2016, Roberts wrote a voluminous letter to then-prime minister Julia Gillard, arguing in what appeared to be sovereign citizen-style language that he was not subject to Australian law and that he should be exempted from the carbon tax.
His letter was addressed to “The woman, Julia.Eileen: Gillard, acting as The Honourable JULIA EILEEN GILLARD”.
He presented her with a detailed contract he expected her to sign, accompanied by a demand that he receive $280,000 compensation if the prime minister did not provide “full and accurate disclosure” in relation to 28 points explaining why he should not be liable for the carbon tax.
Roberts referred to himself as “Malcolm-Ieuan: Roberts, the living soul”, and identified himself as the “beneficiary, administrator” for a corporate entity called “MALCOLM IEUAN ROBERTS”.
He also suggested the Commonwealth of Australia may actually be an American corporation “registered on the United States of America securities exchange”.
In his 28-point affidavit sent to Gillard in 2011, he further claimed he had never been given “material facts or evidence” that compelled him “or any other free man to be a member of a society”, or that he could not resign from a society at any time.
Roberts’ unusual word constructions and punctuation were widely compared at the time to language employed by the sovereign citizens movement.
Sovereign citizens – an anti-authority grouping little known to many Australians before the late fugitive Dezi Freeman became infamous – often refer to themselves as “free men” and use bizarre language ostensibly to establish independence from government authority, or what they consider to be governments’ use of grammar to enslave citizens.
However, Roberts denied being a sovereign citizen in interviews after copies of his correspondence surfaced shortly after he was elected to the Senate.
He refused to take questions on the matter from this masthead’s Michael Koziol at the time, declaring he would only do live interviews “that can’t be edited”.
In an ABC radio interview in August 2016, Roberts confirmed he was the author of the affidavit he sent to Gillard, but denied he was allied to the “sovereign citizen” movement.
“No I’m not,” he said. “Not at all.”
Roberts has also long argued that climate change, or what he calls “human CO2”, is a global conspiracy created by bankers seeking to establish a one-world government.
In 2013 – three years before he became a One Nation senator – he alleged there was a United Nations campaign for global governance.
In that year, he produced a long report entitled “CSRIOh!: Climate of Deception, Or First Step to Freedom?”
“The UN IPCC’s unfounded core claim about human CO2 is part of the UN Agenda 21 campaign for global governance,” his report said.
In a 135-page appendix to the report, published online, he detailed his contention that “an international cabal of bankers” exercised massive influence on world affairs.
His report claimed the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England were privately controlled corporations, and that their owners wanted to introduce carbon trading as a way to make money and extend their control over the world’s economy.
“The objective is global control through global socialist governance by international bankers hiding control behind environmentalism,” he wrote.
He cited as a primary reference for part of his 2013 report the American Holocaust denier, white supremacist and antisemitic conspiracy theorist the late Eustace Mullins.
Roberts was accused at the time – and up to the present day – of using “international bankers” as a trope referring to Jews.
However, he has always denied this, and insists he is not antisemitic.
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Tony Wright is an associate editor and special writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners
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