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George Christensen’s continued embrace of increasingly extreme and fringe ideas has tightened even further with an appearance on a show hosted by one of the world’s most prominent conspiracy theorists, Alex Jones.

Jones has spent decades broadcasting conspiracy theories and misinformation including anti-vaccine ideas, “Pizzagate” and QAnon, in addition to claiming that events such as 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Charlottesville car attack were hoaxes or “false flag” operations. 

Just this month, a Connecticut judge ruled that Jones would be liable for costs in the defamation case brought by the parents of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting after the host repeatedly called the attack a hoax. 

In a 30-minute live interview on Jones’ far-right internet streaming channel InfoWars, the pair scaremongered and shared misinformation about Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Queensland Liberal National Party MP smiled as Jones called Australia “the beta testing for a worldwide slave colony that the globalists are building”, asserting that the United Nations had planned to use a virus to enforce a “world global government” and force vaccinations.

Jones also falsely claimed the vaccine was an “unapproved GMO [genetically modified organism]” and that it was leading to double the number of deaths for the unvaccinated.

For his part, Christensen called Jones “one of the beacons we have around the world” and shared misleading and bad faith interpretations of what was happening in Australia.

He claimed Victoria’s now-passed pandemic law could be used to lock down “any demographic, one kind of ethnic group, one type of sexuality”. He agreed with Jones that social media platforms allegedly taking down content of police brutality was “Australia’s own Tiananmen Square”. 

Mostly Christensen spoke broadly about his opposition to vaccine mandates and lockdowns, and reiterated the call for civil disobedience he made in Parliament last month. Prime Minister Scott Morrison publicly rebuked him for that.

Having announced he won’t contest the next election, Christensen has become emboldened to appeal to conspiratorial types as the end of his term approaches. As Crikey reported in April, he’s tacked further and further to the right in pursuit of a career as a political influencer — having launched an email newsletter (again) and promising to launch a YouTube show (again) and news website.

His appearance on Jones’ show is just the latest stunt to get the attention of the global online right as his political relevancy comes to an end.