Australians have been infuriated this election cycle, but once more, by a deluge of unsolicited textual content messages from a political social gathering related to Clive Palmer.
“You don’t need to be welcomed to your own country, 3% home loans Vote 1 Trumpet of Patriots,” a number of the texts learn.
The messages have been authorised by a “H Fong” for Trumpet of Patriots – Palmer’s newest enterprise – however who’s the person behind the texts?
On the social gathering’s web site, Harry Fong is described as Trumpet of Patriots’ lead senate candidate for Queensland and a “highly respected barrister with extensive experience in criminal law, civil litigation [and] dispute resolution”.
“For too long, Australians have been trapped under a political duopoly where Labor and Liberal make backroom deals that serve themselves rather than the people,” the web site says.
Fed-up Australians discovered barrister Harry Fong listed on the Queensland Bar web site, and documented their efforts on social media to flood the listed cell quantity with messages of their very own.
The web site entry has been eliminated in current days, web site archives present, and on Wednesday, the quantity didn’t ring.
In an e mail response to Guardian Australia, Fong mentioned the flurry of textual content messages had “unfortunately killed the battery of my mobile”. He confirmed he had authorised the messages, however had not personally despatched them.
“I did not send out the Trumpet of Patriots messages (that is the misconception of everyone),” he mentioned.
In 2020, Fong gave an interview to the Lunching with Attorneys podcast, wherein he described assembly Palmer as a regulation scholar on the College of Queensland.
“I got to like Clive. He was very political at that time, and he was the one who got me into the public defender’s office,” Fong mentioned on the podcast. “And I coined the phrase ‘Clive alive in 75’ because … 75 is when he got kicked out and he started doing real estate. Now he’s a multimillionaire.”
Through the episode, Fong additionally mentioned Clive had requested him to run for the senate – an invite he mentioned he knocked again on the time as a consequence of political variations.
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“I did get asked to run for the Senate again by Clive,” he mentioned. “I declined, primarily because my values and Clive’s values may not necessarily be the same.
“I respect him as a person. I respect his ideas in many respects, but I have some principles that I must stick by. And so ultimately, I’m very much a social democrat, Liberal, Labor person.”
Requested about these feedback, Fong instructed Guardian Australia he knew Palmer properly.
“We don’t always agree, but with respect to our party policies, they are very sound,” he mentioned, pointing to stances that embrace dramatically decreasing immigration and respecting the flag – “Many Aussies fought for that liberty”.
“My party, and I, are not racists,” Fong mentioned. “I am a 4th generation Australian of Chinese descent. One side came here in 1872, the other side came earlier. It is extraordinary that people still call me Chinese. Two of my uncles fought for Australia in World War 2.
“Some text messages, suggest I am a racist, because I support the Australian flag. I do think the Welcome to Country ceremony is over used.”
Finally, the Trumpet of Patriots texts are fully authorized – Australian political events are exempt from privateness legal guidelines and anti-spam guidelines.
Palmer’s newest enterprise has churned by way of round $4.5 million on Google advertisements throughout the election interval, in accordance with the Populares AdTracker, and is the third highest spender on Fb behind solely the Labor social gathering and Australian Electoral Fee.
The Bar Affiliation of Queensland didn’t return a request for remark about why Fong’s itemizing had been faraway from its web site.
