Australia's One Nation offered 'change to voting system' for cash

Far-right party sought up to $20m from pro-gun groups in the United States, undercover Al Jazeera investigation reveals.
by Peter Charley

28 Mar 2019

Sydney, Australia An official from Australia's far-right One Nation party offered to influence the country's democracy as part of a bid to secure political funding from Koch Industries, a United States energy giant, an Al Jazeera investigation has found.

The offer was revealed in the second episode of Al Jazeera's three-year investigation into the US and Australian gun lobbies, titled How to sell a massacre.

Secretly filmed footage, obtained by Al Jazeera, shows Steve Dickson, One Nation's leader in the Australian state of Queensland, meeting with Catherine Haggett, director of Federal Affairs at Koch Industries, in Washington, the US capital, in September of last year.

Dickson told Haggett: "What you can do to help us and it's going to get down to money at the end of the day … we can change the voting system in our country, the way people operate, if we've got the money to do it."

The meeting at Koch Industries was just one among a series of meetings in Washington in which One Nation officials sought up to $20m in political funding from pro-gun groups. Dickson was accompanied by James Ashby, the One Nation party's chief of staff. 

Rodger Muller, an undercover reporter from Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, posed as a pro-gun campaigner and used concealed cameras to track Dickson and Ashby during their US visit.

In meetings with powerful gun lobby groups, Muller filmed the pair vowing to soften Australia's strict gun laws, which were imposed following a mass shooting that killed 35 people in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur in 1996.

Catherine Haggett from Koch Industries speaks to the One Nation delegation [Al Jazeera]

Port Arthur killings

Dickson and Ashby's party, officially called "Pauline Hanson's One Nation", pushes a pro-gun and anti-immigration agenda. Its leader, Senator Pauline Hanson, made global headlines in 2017 when she wore a veil that covered her face at the country's parliament to protest against Muslim immigration into Australia.

In a secretly filmed conversation, Hanson was also recorded suggesting that the official account of the Port Arthur killings might be incorrect.

The shooting was the deadliest in Australia's history. The gunman, Martin Bryant, pleaded guilty and was given 35 life sentences without the possibility of parole.

"An MP said it would actually take a massacre in Tasmania to change the gun laws in Australia," Hanson told Al Jazeera's undercover reporter. "Those shots, they were precision shots. Check the number out … a lot of questions there." 

The Port Arthur killings led to the passage of Australia's National Firearms Agreement (NFA), which places strict controls on automatic and semiautomatic rifles and shotguns. Since then, Australia has had no mass shootings where the attackers did not know at least some of their victims.

The US's National Rifle Association (NRA) has denounced Australia's gun laws as "not the definition of common sense".

One Nation has proposed minor changes to the NFA as part of its platform for the upcoming Australian elections, set to take place in May.

But the party has not disclosed to Australian voters its discussions with the NRA, in which Dickson, who is also a senate candidate in the poll, described the Pacific country's firearms laws as "poison" and vowed to "kill" them.

James Ashby (left) and Steve Dickson (right) at a meeting with Koch Industries [Al Jazeera]
In fact, it was an NRA official who connected the One Nation officials to Koch Industries.

The energy giant's massive political donations helped put Donald Trump in office in the 2016 US presidential election.

"If we don't change things, people are going to be looking at Australia and go 'well, it's okay for them to go down the path of not having guns. It's like poison. It will poison us all unless we stop it," Dickson told Brandi Graham, a senior NRA lobbyist.

Graham lauded the plan, saying: "I think that it would be very beneficial if you are all able to take steps in the right direction because the biggest argument we always get from folks is 'Well, look at Australia'."

Dickson asked for Graham's help with other meetings in Washington, saying One Nation wanted to meet "people that you may be aware of that have similar interests to us, people interested in stopping this infection spreading".

He added: "We lack, probably, two things: we lack money, we lack people on the ground."

Offering to reach out to Koch Industries, Graham replied: "Clearly, I think if you can talk about the effect of your gun policy and some of the other issues that affect them, you never know, they might be willing to help out in some way."

Gun to the government's head

Dickson and Ashby told Al Jazeera's undercover reporter that they hoped to secure up to $20m from the US gun lobby, a move they believed would secure their success in the upcoming elections.

Ashby said: "We would win potentially the balance of power if we took two seats in the lower house. And you know what? I reckon we could do that with $2m. If you had $20m, you would own the lower house and the upper house."

Dickson likened the balance of power to holding a gun to the head of the Australian government.

"The thing you need to understand about the balance of power is … You know about the headlock and the 9mm to the back of the head? That's where it sits. You know, once you say we want something, we will get it. Because without it, they won't get any legislation through," he said.

During an interview with Sky News Australia on Tuesday, Ashby denied seeking foreign funds to influence the nation's laws.

"There is no way that we were out to change gun laws in this country. At no point was that ever, ever on the table," he said.

But in a secretly filmed conversation with Al Jazeera's undercover reporter, Dickson and Ashby proposed a gradual approach to softening gun laws in Australia.

"It's like Vegemite. You don't put a f***ing bundle of the s*** on the toast. A light smear first. Get them used to the flavour," Ashby said.

They likened the strategy to taking bread from a loaf, one slice at a time. "Then we can get another piece of bread and end up with the whole loaf," said Dickson.

There is no evidence that Koch Industries or any other group approached by One Nation provided any donations. 

Source : Al-Jazeera News
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How to sell a massacre: NRA's playbook revealed

Three-year undercover sting reveals how US' National Rifle Association handles public opinion after deadly gun attacks.
by Peter Charley
26 Mar 2019

Sydney, Australia - How should you respond to a deadly mass shooting if you are a gun rights advocate?

First, "Say nothing." If media queries persist, go on the "offence, offence, offence". Smear gun-control groups. "Shame them" with statements such as - "How dare you stand on the graves of those children to put forward your political agenda?"

This was the advice the US's most powerful gun lobby gave Australia's One Nation party, according to an Al Jazeera investigation, when representatives of the Australian far-right group sought guidance from the National Rifle Association (NRA) on loosening the Pacific country's strict gun laws.

The NRA's playbook on mass shootings came to light during the course of a three-year undercover sting by Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit. Rodger Muller, an Australian undercover reporter who infiltrated the gun lobbies in the US and Australia, used a hidden camera to record a series of meetings between representatives of the NRA and One Nation in Washington, DC in September last year.

The secretly filmed footage provides a rare inside view of how the NRA deliberates over mass shootings and seeks to manipulate media coverage to push its pro-gun agenda.

Australia's One Nation party, led by Senator Pauline Hanson, has long sought to relax the country's gun laws, which ban almost all automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns.

The rules, some of the toughest in the world, were introduced in 1996 after a gunman with a semiautomatic rifle killed 35 people in the town of Port Arthur.

Since then, Australia has had no mass shootings where the attackers did not know their victims. However, the NRA has denounced Australia's laws as "not the definition of common sense".

'The graves of those children'

Muller, Al Jazeera's undercover reporter who posed as a gun-rights campaigner, introduced One Nation's Chief of Staff, James Ashby, and the leader of its Queensland branch, Steve Dickson, to the NRA, and travelled with the pair to Washington, DC last year.

Ashby and Dickson were hoping to secure up to $20m in political donations from supporters of the US gun lobby.

In meetings at the NRA's Virginia headquarters, officials provided Ashby and Dickson tips to galvanise public support to change Australia's gun laws and coached the pair on how to respond to a mass shooting.

The best method to handle media inquiries in the wake of a massacre was to "say nothing", according to Catherine Mortensen, an NRA media liaison officer. But if inquiries persisted, she recommended an offensive communications strategy.

That included deflecting public concern by smearing supporters of gun control.

"Just shame them to the whole idea," said Lars Dalseide, another member of the NRA's public relations team. "If your policy, isn't good enough to stand on itself, how dare you use their deaths to push that forward. How dare you stand on the graves of those children to put forward your political agenda?"

Dickson responded: "I love that, thank you".

Then, explaining how the NRA manipulated media coverage, Dalseide told One Nation to enlist the services of friendly reporters.

"You have somebody who leans to your side that worked at a newspaper, maybe he was covering city hall or was a crime reporter," Dalseide said.

"We want to print up stories about people who were robbed, had their home invaded, were beaten or whatever it might be and that could have been helped had they had a gun. And that's going to be the angle on your stories. That's what he's got to write. He's got to put out two to five of those a week."

Rodger Muller, centre, accompanied One Nation's Steve Dickson, left, and James Ashby, right, as they travelled to Washington, DC to meet the NRA [Al Jazeera]

'Outrage of the week'

Another NRA tip was to ghost-write columns for pro-gun law enforcement officials.

"We pitch guest columns in the local papers," said Mortensen.

"A lot of the times, we'll write them for like a local sheriff in Wisconsin or whatever. And he'll draft it or she will help us draft it. We'll do a lot of the legwork because these people are busy. And this is our job. So, we'll help them and they'll submit it with their name on it so that it looks organic. You know, that it's coming from that community. But we will have a role behind the scenes."

As for social media, the NRA recommended producing short videos that highlight how useful a gun is for self-defence.

"These are hugely popular and they're short little snippets. You know, 'Joe Blow', cashier at the local convenience store, had his firearm with him and protected himself," said Mortensen.

"Those are good because they're short and they kind of get you outraged. We call it like 'the outrage of the week'."

During the same meeting, Dickson told the NRA that "African gangs imported to Australia" were committing rape and burglary in the country, including "coming into the house with baseball bats to steal your car".

To that, Dalseide advised the following: "Every time there's a story there about the African gangs coming in with baseball bats, a little thing you can put out there, maybe at the top of a tweet or Facebook post or whatever, like with 'not allowed to defend their home', 'not allowed to defend their home'. Boom."

The NRA officials named in this report, One Nation, Dickson and Ashby did not respond to Al Jazeera's requests for comment.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS
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I went undercover to expose the US, Australia gun lobby

Al Jazeera reporter goes undercover in a three-year investigation of the US' powerful gun lobby's strategies to promote firearms ownership.

by Rodger Muller
26 Mar 2019
I've been living a double life for the past three years. 

As part of Al Jazeera's elaborate infiltration of the United States' gun lobby, I assumed the role of a gun advocate, pretending to campaign for a repeal of Australia's rigid, gun control laws, and pretending that I wanted more firearms in the hands of Australian citizens.

In fact, I disagree with all of those things. I believe the gun lobby's efforts to conceal the truth, which concerns public safety and constitutional rights, should be brought to light.

That is why I chose to take part in this undercover investigation.

My involvement in the project began in 2015 when I received a call from Peter Charley, the executive producer of Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit in Washington, DC.

He explained that his team were investigating the US gun lobby and its attempts to manage the messaging on whether more guns lead to more deaths. His team had gathered enough evidence of deliberate deception, and were now considering staging an undercover operation.

Charley then got to the point. His idea was to create a pro-gun group in Australia that would, in theory, appeal to the NRA. He asked if I would be interested in posing as that group's founder and president in order to infiltrate the NRA? And, if so, would I be comfortable wearing hidden cameras on frequent visits to the US to cultivate ties with the NRA, and to record my conversations with them?

How to sell a massacre (3:10)

It was an interesting idea. I'd never worn a hidden camera or claimed to love guns. In fact, I'd only fired a gun a few times on a friend's farm. I didn't know a Glock from Luger and I'd never seen an assault rifle.

That didn't matter, Charley said. He was looking for someone with the ability to "work a room" and knowledge of people, business and finance. I would be trained thoroughly in the journalistic requirements, as well as the handling of guns.

So, I was in.

Double life

In preparation for my assignment, Al Jazeera flew me to London, where I was taught how to phrase questions and how to conduct myself as an undercover journalist. I was schooled by a concealed camera expert in the use of tiny cameras - undetectable to the human eye. And they brought me to the US and put me through gun safety courses and arms training. My new life as a "gun enthusiast" had begun.

All I had to do now was convince the NRA that I was somebody I was not.

Rodger Muller, left, with Pauline Hanson, right, who leads Australia's far-right One Nation party [Al Jazeera]
The plan Charley had devised was simple. Playing on the NRA's open contempt of Australia's strict firearms laws, he created a group called Gun Rights Australia which claimed it was pushing for a repeal of the legislation.

My job was to use this as a front to endear myself to NRA officials and climb as high as I could within the organisation, recording conversations with them on subjects such as how they respond to a massacre, how they pressure members of the US Congress, and how they manipulate the media.

'Scary world out there'
I took my first steps as a man with a double life at the 2016 NRA convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Camera operators and producers from Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit travelled with me from Washington, DC, to Louisville, and helped position the pinhead-sized camera lenses for my very first encounters with NRA officials.

I was a little nervous at first, but soon relaxed into my new role. As I made my way further into the gun lobby, I began to understand the depth of some US citizens' passion for their cherished "Second Amendment" - the right to keep and bear arms.

Those around me at the NRA convention wore hats, T-shirts and badges, declaring their undying love for the "God-given right" to carry a weapon. It became very clear to me that, if I wanted to sound believable, I had to espouse those same passions.

That was not easy. I am genuinely proud of Australia's gun control laws, and to rail against "snowflakes" and "gun grabbers" seemed like a betrayal of my friends and family back home, who I believe are safe because of such tough laws.

Many of them were astonished at my newfound passion for firearms. I brushed most queries off saying, "It's a scary world out there. I've realised that guns can keep us all safe - so I'm campaigning for more guns here".

But not everyone was happy with such explanations. On more than one occasion, strangers who had seen the Gun Rights Australia website confronted me on the street and berated me for trying to drag Australia's gun laws in the direction of those in the US.

James Ashby, left, Steve Dickson, centre, and Rodger Muller, right, in Washington, DC [Al Jazeera]