Australian Radomir Kobryn-Coletti has no commitment to any political party, right or left, but his job right now is churning out incendiary Facebook memes for a controversial senator, wooing the far-right ahead of this month’s elections.
“There’s tight competition for the alternative right-wing vote,” said Kobryn-Coletti, 23, who works for Queensland Senator Fraser Anning, frequently posting on his smartphone from his bed, from the beach, waiting for a plane or stuck in traffic.
“For your political candidate to win, you have to energise the base, and you don’t energise the base with corporatised, clean, sanitary content. It’s what will get the maximum of attention.”
With at least six far-right groups with limited funding vying for what political analysts believe is one available Senate seat in the largely rural state of Queensland, victory in the May 18 election is down to who can get the most eyeballs for the least money.
There are 76 Senate seats nationwide but whoever wins a seat as an independent gets outsize influence, given neither of the mainstream parties, the ruling Liberal-National coalition and opposition Labor, is expected to win the 38 needed for outright control of the upper house.
Currently 19 Senate seats are held by independents or minor parties. Anning is running for “Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party”.
“Facebook is definitely the go-to for these groups to easily spread their message to a potentially large audience,” said Jordan McSwiney, a researcher at University of Sydney’s Department of Government and International Relations who specialises in far-right politics.
“The cost of a coordinated meme campaign on Facebook is dramatically cheaper than other forms of advertising.”
In a recent Facebook posting, Kobryn-Coletti declared “White South Africans are being murdered, tortured and kicked off their land, yet the left remains completely silent”, with a photo of a black man holding a sign saying “KILL ALL WHITES.”
Senator Anning would “ensure our Boer brethren get emergency visas,” the post added. After two days, the post had 5,100 likes and 2,700 shares. A Labor party meme posted the same day on saving overtime pay had just 360 likes and 58 shares.
Australian fringe politics is not confined to hardline conservatives but anti-immigration sentiment has surged since two hostages were killed during a 17-hour siege by a “lone wolf” gunman, inspired by Islamic State militants, in a Sydney cafe in 2014.
Rightwing groups used Facebook to communicate and organise – until March 15, when 50 people at two New Zealand mosques were shot dead. Facebook swiftly deleted dozens of anti-immigration pages, but not those of politicians.