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Both the Australian Defence Force and the Northern Territory’s Chief Minister Michael Gunner have rejected wild social media claims that the military is forcibly vaccinating Indigenous Territorians.
Minister Gunner urged people to ignore the “ridiculous rumours” and “insane crap” about the military’s support role during a 52-case outbreak that has infected mostly Aboriginal Territorians.
“Ninety-nine per cent of the BS that’s flying around the internet about the territory is coming from flogs outside the territory,” he said.
“People who have nothing better to do than make up lies.”
Minister Gunner stated that Defence personnel were not carrying guns but fresh food for locked down communities and vulnerable people in the area.
In order to stop the outbreak from spreading, over 85 ADF personnel assisted police and health workers in and around the Katherine area with food deliveries to vulnerable communities and close-contact transport to testing facilities.
ADF personnel also helped the police at vehicle checkpoints.
“We are trying to protect the oldest continuous living culture on the planet. We have tens of thousands of years of history, law, custom and song to keep alive,” Minister Gunner said.
“If anybody thinks we are going to get distracted or intimated by tinfoil hat-wearing tossers sitting in their parents’ basements … then you do not know us Territorians.”
The wild social media claims allege that infected Aboriginal people are being forcibly transferred to quarantine facilities, likening them to the stolen generation.
Meanwhile, other traditional owners also accused ADF personnel of holding Indigenous people down and injecting them with the vaccine.
The posts have been shared and reposted hundreds of times on Facebook and other platforms, causing fears that they could threaten local efforts to contain the outbreak.
The ADF called for social media users to report the “spurious” claims, saying they were “deliberate disinformation”.
“Defence is aware of social media posts claiming the Australian Defence Force is forcibly vaccinating or detaining members of the Australian community,” a spokesman said in a statement.
“These claims are emphatically false.”
ADF’s NT COVID-19 response commander Colonel Tim Rutherford told media the “wild” posts were made by “issue-motivated” groups using Defence’s involvement as a “prop”.
Traditional owners in Binjari and Rockhole also stated that the social media posts are not helping them with their battle against the virus.
“We have been treated with a lot of respect and appreciate all the support being given by these support personnel,” the Wurli-Wurlinjang Health Service said.
“We don’t need people out there creating another flood for us. We don’t appreciate outside people making comments that are untrue. People on social media saying that our people are being mistreated need to realise their comments are hurting the very people they claim to care about.”
One new case was detected overnight after a teenager from the Binjari Aboriginal community tested positive. However, Rockhole residents have tested negative for the virus.
The Aboriginal community will move from a hard lockdown – where they were only able to leave their homes if there was an emergency – to a normal lockdown.
With AAP
Eliza Sayon is an experienced writer who specialises in corporate and government communications. She is the content producer for Public Spectrum, an online knowledge-based platform for and about the Australian public sector.
