‘Wake the f**k up’: Senator’s warning to Aussies amid One Nation surge

A Greens senator has delivered a chilling warning, saying Australia needs to ‘wake the f**k up’ following One Nation’s unprecedented rise in the polls.

Tasmanian senator Pete Whish-Wilson pointed to what he described as “compelling” circumstantial evidence linking the party’s rapid rise to a sophisticated online influence operation, following an investigation by ABC News Verify.

During a speech earlier this week, Mr Whish-Wilson said Australian democracy was “at stake” if Australians didn’t “wake the f**k up to what’s going on in the sphere of social media.”

“This political party has gone from a vote of around six per cent in the polls to over 30 per cent. That is, a rise of 400 to 500 per cent,” he said.

“This is unprecedented in Australian political history, and it’s happened in nine months.”

Mr Whish-Wilson stressed he was not disputing the polling itself, but questioned how such a surge could occur so quickly for a party whose platform and beliefs have remained largely unchanged for decades.

“Australians have been moving away from the major parties … we know that they’re disgruntled with politics, but what’s happened defies normal explanation,” he said.

“Clearly, people are looking at One Nation as an option, but we’re not asking ourselves why.

“If someone has paid for a massive disinformation campaign or an influence campaign that’s promoting One Nation, they’re not shying away from the massive campaign infrastructure they’ve got around them now in Australia.

“They’re flaunting their relationship with Australia’s richest woman and other billionaires.”

In March, an ABC News Verify investigation uncovered hundreds of pieces of political content originating from untraceable websites overseas, including Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

In just one week, researchers identified 400 posts – many using deepfake AI technology – designed to promote One Nation and its leader.

“More than half of them featured Senator Pauline Hanson … and they were complete fakes,” Mr Whish-Wilson said.

Images and videos specifically depicted fake scenarios, ranging from Ms Hanson in hospitals giving money to sick kids – to inflammatory political messaging around climate change and immigration.

Many of the posts had attracted hundreds of thousands of likes, comments and shares from Australian voters who appeared to believe the AI-generated content.

In one image, Ms Hanson is seen in a hospital bed, holding a sign that reads: “I’m battling cancer, pray for me.”

In another, an AI-generated version of Ms Hanson is seen holding a sign saying: “Do you love me?”, to which hundreds of Australians commented “Yes”, and “we love you, Pauline.”

It is unclear whether these people believe they are engaging with Pauline herself.

Other images include: An AI-generated ‘Wanted’ poster for Senator Fatima Payman, and an image announcing the apparent death of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Rahat Masood, senior lecturer in Computer science and engineering at UNSW, said she believed the likelihood of Ms Hanson using such a campaign was “high”, although Ms Hanson’s office has denied the claims of using bots.

“The reality of a rise in polling is that there could be a full campaign running at the back end,” Dr Masood told news.com.au.

“You could have bots with the same agenda, who are actively working to improve the image of Pauline Hanson online.

“Sometimes you can detect these bots with the naked eye, but when it comes to campaigns and narratives – it is really difficult to detect them.”

Dr Masood said AI bots had become increasingly “sophisticated”, with many able to mimic the behaviour of an average social media user.

“It’s very hard to detect such bots now, given they come from different origins and regions. But there is very strong evidence to say these are originating from a similar narrative and campaign.”

Dr Masood said creating these campaigns was as easy as having just “one laptop and a good strategy.”

Alternatively, foreign companies may be hired to generate the content and make it widespread.

“If you use these campaigns in a negative way; to promote false information or spread disinformation – chances are, you’re going to swing the elections,” said Dr Masood.

“[Ms Hanson] is doing it right now. We can see that. She is using it very smartly.

“But this is going to have very devastating consequences for Australia. If people are not aware of misinformation, they will vote accordingly.

Similarly, experts told the ABC that the findings were likely “just the tip of the iceberg” of a broader foreign influence effort targeting Australian politics.

Mr Whish-Wilson said the motivation behind the campaign remains unclear, ranging from profit-driven “algorithm monetising” to the possibility of a “nefarious, malicious, foreign-actor campaign.”

“Is it a directly funded influence campaign … to influence our politics? Once again, no one knows,” he said.

James Ashby, Ms Hanson’s chief adviser, told the Australian Financial Review that One Nation did not spend any money boosting its own content or buying followers.

“Pauline and our social media team have always encouraged organic growth on her Facebook, Instagram and X pages,” he told the outlet.

“Other politicians pay to boost content and buy followers, however that only attracts bots and overseas followers. Every follower on Pauline’s pages is a real person with the power to provide a real vote.”