School takes teens to see QAnon ‘megahit’, big business wants out of the Voice, and UAP back to waste everyone’s time

Cry Freedom Given the method by which Sound of Freedom reached our screens in the first place, it would seem impossible that anyone could go into the movie unaware of, at the very least, the fringe politics that animates its star and some of its audience.

But that appears to be the case at a NSW high school, a tipster tells us. To recap, the movie is the true(ish) story of Tim Ballard, a Homeland Security agent who leaves the government and sets up Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), an anti-human trafficking outfit that rescues children from sex traffickers in South America. Sound of Freedom is also known as the first QAnon blockbuster, partly due to star Jim Caviezel’s theories.

The parent of a Year 9 student has told us their child’s geography class was taken to see the film last week. This parent, who was across the QAnon connection, told us they refused permission for their child to attend, having been told by the school that it wasn’t compulsory and wouldn’t form the basis of any assessments, and further that the class would not be “getting into” the controversy surrounding the movie.

As we’ve written, the film itself, while deeply right wing and not particularly accurate on the mechanics of slavery and trafficking, is hardly likely on its own to inculcate anyone into anything profoundly dodgy. But it’s still a deeply weird choice of all the movies in the world to show 15-year-olds.

By the by, yesterday it was alleged that Ballard, the real-life character portrayed by Caviezel, was the subject of sexual misconduct allegations and a related investigation involving seven women, according to a story published by Vice. Ballard was founder and one-time CEO of Operation Underground Railroad and left the organisation earlier this year. All good classroom discussion fodder, presumably.

Have you heard of any similar QAnon-y outings for school kids? Let us know.

Kelly and the gang According to a tipster, Senator Ralph Babet and former MP Craig Kelly will host a meet-and-greet tonight at The Oaks in Sydney’s Neutral Bay.

The pair remain in public life — however tangentially, in Kelly’s case — thanks to the largesse of Clive Palmer, a man who has clearly decided to commit his considerable wealth and energy in his remaining years to bold experiments in just how much of everyone’s time it’s possible to waste. In 2022, this commitment expressed itself in the $100 million he pumped into getting Babet and literally no-one else elected.

Palmer and his sole senator’s case against the Australian Electoral Commission is in the Federal Court today. They are trying to force the AEC to count crosses as No votes on the Voice to Parliament referendum ballot paper, so presumably the disinfo-duo will be telling Neutral Bay how that went.

Incidentally, under the airtight logic that all crosses are No and all ticks are Yes (and presumably that all cats are girls and all dogs are boys), we had a quick look at Babet’s declaration that he was qualified to sit in Parliament in the first place and you’ll never guess what we found:

Odd choice of location tonight too, given Neutral Bay falls squarely in Warringah, an electorate so sick of the influence figures like Kelly had on the Liberal Party back when he was an inexplicably protected species of backbencher that it turfed Tony Abbott in 2019, putting it ahead of the curve in ditching Liberals in favour of social progressive independents.

Obviously I’d love to get along, but unfortunately tonight I’m too busy testing out my new power sander on my kneecaps.

No to the Yes campaign A continuing theme of the debate around the Voice, and as clear an indication that we as a nation are apparently incapable of an adult debate around race and our history, is the caution bordering on cowardice big institutions have been showing.

Outgoing AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan had to apologise to an AFLW fan who was forced to remove a T-shirt showing support for the Yes movement at a game at Springfield on Sunday — security having apparently told her she was making an inappropriate “political statement”. Both the AFL and NRL have stated their support, but appear deeply reluctant to do anything further — contrasting, say, with the NRL grand final picking well-intentioned Grammy thief Macklemore, one of the hottest artists of five years earlier, to play the 2017 grand final in the middle of the marriage equality debate, despite his second biggest hit being marriage equality anthem “Same Love”.

The Star casino in Brisbane is the latest big company to seemingly take a similarly wishy-washy approach, according to a tipster. “Following the Yes Walk in Brisbane a number of walkers entered the Star Treasury hotel to quench their thirst. It was a hot day in Brisbane with long waits for speeches to end at Southbank before the walk was underway,” they tell us. “They were soon approached by a security guard who advised that he had been told by management to demand to know if they were ‘protesters’.”

The group of four — “of somewhat senior years”, our tipster tells us — confirmed they were participants from the Yes walk. The security guard apparently informed them that management wanted them to finish their drinks and leave immediately because they were “protesters”. The senior group were quickly finishing their beers (but the fun had really gone out of it) when they were then approached by the same security guard who informed them that management had decided they could stay but only if more “protesters” didn’t join them. The group, apparently feeling their vibe had been killed, “gulped the last drops of their drinks and promptly left”.

We asked Star about whether it had a specific policy demanding Voice neutrality from its guests (we’re assuming not, given the Sydney branch was happy to accommodate the spittle-flecked ravings of CPAC earlier this year). A spokesperson told Crikey: “There is no policy that would prevent persons entering our premises while wearing clothing that promotes a Yes or a No vote. We have attempted to contact the guests involved.”