For a group that exudes hypothetical ‘somebody think of the children’ energy, anti-vaxxers don’t seem to have a problem threatening actual real life kids, huh? Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner has revealed the death threats he’s receiving aren’t just targeting him, but his one-year-old baby.
During a COVID-19 press conference in Darwin, Gunner was asked if he knew about any death threats. The question was in relation to the NT parliament’s public gallery being shut down for security reasons, as well as anti-vaxxer protests sparked by the state’s vaccine mandates earlier this month.
“I have [received death threats] on a number of occasions,” Gunner replied, per ABC.
“I’ve been told my kid will be put in a grave.”
He then stopped for a second, his bottom lip quivering, and took about 15 seconds to breathe and maintain his composure before resuming speaking.
“We have a job and we’ll do our job,” he said.
Anti-vaxxers from not just the NT but literally across the globe have been coming for Gunner after he cracked down on mandatory vaccines.
Americans have been protesting to ‘save Australia’ for quite some time now, calling our lockdowns draconian and undemocratic.
Gunner at one point dragged US Senator Ted Cruz for criticising NT’s vaccine approach, in what was honestly an iconic tweet.
G’day from Down Under @tedcruz. Thanks for your interest in the Territory. I’m the Chief Minister. Below are a few facts about COVID down here. https://t.co/cGFwBP7Nqx pic.twitter.com/mGNyOxlN41
— Michael Gunner (@fanniebay) October 18, 2021
And just recently, #MeToo’s Rose McGowan tweeted a video of racist gremlin Katie Hopkins attacking Gunner for apparently not blinking enough… before she compared his vaccine approach to the Holocaust. Yes, really.
“When you think of the man enforcing this, does it seem like reasonable or democratic behaviour, or does it remind you of another man in another time in another age that we all said we would never go back to,” Hopkins said in her, quite frankly, unhinged video that I refuse to link here.
Pair this with recent reports of anti-vaxxers apparently celebrating the hit-and-run of a COVID testing clinic worker in Melbourne, and well, things are genuinely fucked.
NT Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker said the threats against Gunner and his family were being taken very seriously.
“There’s multiple investigations that we’re undertaking and will continue to do so,” Commissioner Chalker said, though he acknowledged it’s a complicated situation since some of those threatening Gunner are interstate or international.
“We are dealing with people who unfortunately have gone down a rabbit hole,” Gunner said.
“The delusion that they’re buying into is extraordinary.
“And they can be both offensive and violent in what they say.”
And yet, I wonder how many of them have ‘be kind’ in their Instagram bios.
