Aussie Helping Hands co-founder David Oneeglio (Image: Supplied/Telegram)

A group run by anti-vaxxers that claims to have raised $282,000 for flood relief is facing questions about how this money is being used. 

The group — whose founders have said Lismore’s flooding was planned by the government and which has been promoted by figures such as Pete Evans — raised the money while spreading misinformation about the Red Cross and other charities.

Among the dozens of online appeals calling for help for people affected by floods in Queensland and northern NSW, new group Aussie Helping Hands say they’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in a short time, although Crikey was unable to independently verify this number. Its website lists three people who have espoused anti-vaccine beliefs: David Oneeglio, Dotti Janssen and Hayley Birtles-Eades.

The three began collaborating on Aussie Helping Hands earlier this month. The group’s website — registered under Birtles-Eades’ name — and Facebook page were created a week ago. A domain for the organisation launched a week earlier listed the group as “a unified initiative by awakened Aussies”. The term “awakened” is often used to describe people who have begun to distrust institutions and mainstream media in favour of fringe views. 

Oneeglio is a major Australian conspiracy influencer who has emerged as one of the biggest voices in the anti-vaccine, anti-government “freedom” movements. In his many daily vlogs posted to his 70,000 subscribers on Telegram, Oneeglio documents himself travelling to different protests and speaking about various conspiracy theories — including that the Lismore flood, much like the 9/11 terror attacks, was a controlled demolition. He cites the use of a “rain bomb” by meteorologists.

Janssen runs Common Law Australia, a website promoting sovereign citizenry and links to the anti-vax documentary Plandemic and other conspiracy content. Birtles-Eades is the founder of a PR agency who has posted anti-vaccine content on her Telegram account and shared videos on an Instagram account of her interviewing conspiracy theorists such as Fanos Panayides. 

The group has been boosted by significant figures in the conspiracy movement, such as disgraced chef Pete Evans, pro-Putin anti-lockdown activist Simeon Boikov (also known as “Aussie Cossack”) and former porn addict and Qantas pilot Graham Hood, who was sacked for refusing to be vaccinated. Posts in online conspiracy and anti-vaccine groups appeal to anti-government sentiment and call for donations to Aussie Helping Hands instead.

Aussie Helping Hands promises to help flood victims by coordinating donations and volunteers. Their pitch is to “avoid management fees typically seen by major charities” and ensure that “financial transactions, both given and received, are documented for transparency”. The group is upfront about not being a charity and that donations to it are not tax-deductible. The do

Organisers for Aussie Helping Hands claim to have “secured” a 300-square-metre commercial space to operate from, but according to one person Crikey spoke to they have been working out of Coraki Fire Station, about 25km from Lismore.

Despite regularly updating their website as donations roll in, the group’s promised record of spending has failed to eventuate so far. Some people following the group have started to raise questions about how the money is being distributed. “This ‘charity’ has some concerning red flags and should be reported — give your money to a proper charity,” wrote one person in the group’s Telegram channel.

Some evidence of the group’s work has been posted to the group’s and some of the founders’ social media accounts. Videos of boxes of supplies have been posted. Two people say they have received some money and volunteering assistance from the group. More than anything, the group has shared dozens of screenshots and requests for help while calling for more donations. 

Crikey sent a number of questions about the group’s claims of spending to its email address. Someone operating the account repeatedly promised to respond but never did. It was only after Crikey asked about ways that people who wanted help from the group could make a request that the group added a “register to be helped” section on its website.

The group has fundraised off the back of allegations that charities such as the Red Cross are corrupt or incompetent. Rooted in real criticism about the Red Cross being slow to act and high-profile legal issues around Celeste Barber’s bushfire fundraiser, posts that cite old or inaccurate statistics about these charities accompanied by a call-to-action to donate have gone viral in online conspiracy groups.

One image which was widely shared across Facebook and Twitter falsely claims that $108.9 million of the $147 million raised for the 2019-20 bushfires went missing and that readers should instead give to Aussie Helping Hands. As of March 2, the Red Cross says that 96% of the $242 million raised has been spent, with less than 5% taken for administration costs.

City of Gold Coast councillor William Owen-Jones told the Gold Coast Bulletin that he was flooded with anti-Red Cross conspiracy theories when he posted a link to its fundraiser earlier this week. 

Part of this animosity is founded in Red Cross’s support for vaccination. Oneeglio shared a photograph of a television showing celebrity Scott Cam during the Red Cross televised flood appeal with the caption: “this poison pusher sellout is now promoting Red Cross”. 

A spokesperson for Red Cross told Crikey its expertise in helping during disasters allows it to cover both the immediate and long-term needs of communities: “Red Cross programs are also underpinned by best practice from around the globe, for example our teams are doing similar work right now in the Ukraine crisis.” 

The scale and difficulty of the work that Aussie Helping Hands will need to do to effectively allocate donations appears to be apparent to the group’s founders. In a video, Oneeglio speaks about the group’s inexperience.

“That’s $200,000. None of us have handled this sort of money before. I’ll be real with you. If you give a lot of money and there’s not a lot of eyes on it, who knows?” he said.