Queensland state MP John-Paul Langbroek is the latest Aussie politician to share a coronavirus conspiracy post, and now Labor is calling for him to be sacked.
The Surfers Paradise representative posted a cartoon describing COVID-19 as a “mild flu” and calling the lockdown a “fear campaign” that’s threatening people’s civil liberties.
Here’s where it gets really nuts. While the cartoon depicts Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk as a jockey, it also shows Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young behind her wearing a Nazi SS cap.
The Gold Coast Bulletin pointed out that the original version of the cartoon, which is still floating around some unsavoury corners of the internet, actually featured a swastika armband on Young, too.
However, Langbroek told the newspaper he had “no idea about the original” and wouldn’t have posted it if he had known.
Sitting in my office in Surfers Paradise, talking 📱📞 to desperate locals. This is the overwhelming view from those who can’t visit their sick parents in hospital, can’t cross the border for work, have family members on antidepressants. ‘It’s the economy too, stupid’ #qldpol pic.twitter.com/qHGqPEvktg
— John-Paul Langbroek (@JPLangbroek) September 5, 2020
Cartoon aside, the crux of his message is that the border with NSW should be reopened. While there are serious issues such as when a pregnant woman in northern NSW couldn’t cross the border to get medical treatment, this cartoon is still a stretch when it comes to Queensland’s lockdown restrictions.
Regardless, Langbroek thought his take was so shithot that he even tagged the Queensland Labor Party and Palaszczuk herself in the post.
Labor frontbencher Stirling Hinchliffe told the Sydney Morning Herald, not only did the cartoon push “far-right conspiracy theories”, but it was also at odds with the Queensland LNP’s support for border closures.
“You can’t pretend to support our strong border stance and have every other senior member of the LNP out there criticising us and attacking us,” he said.
“If John-Paul Langbroek disagrees with [LNP leader] Deb Frecklington, then Deb Frecklington should have the guts to sack him from her front bench.”
Thanks to this post, Langbroek has joined the likes of federal Liberal MP Craig Kelly in sharing boomer memes rife with coronavirus misinformation and conspiracy theories. How good is Aussie politics, hey.
