‘Mainstream Media Has Devolved to Being Propaganda:’ Australian Senator

Senator Malcolm Roberts debates the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Relief So Working Australians Keep More Of Their Money) Bill 2019, in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on July 4, 2019. Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images

Senator Malcolm Roberts has called early declarations of Democrat Joe Biden winning the U.S. presidency a “damning indictment” of the mainstream media.

The One Nation party senator made the comments during a Senate motion to congratulate Biden on his “victory” and his commitment to ambitious climate change targets.

Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson put forward the proposal, which states:

“The Senate congratulates incoming U.S. President Biden on his victory and welcomes his commitment to tackling the climate crisis, particularly his acknowledgement that climate change is an emergency and an existential threat, and calls on the Australian Government to match his target of zero-emissions electricity by 2035, if not earlier.”

His proposal was supported by fellow Greens Senators Jorden Alexander Steele-John, Mehreen Faruqi, and Janet Rice.

“Joe Biden has affirmed climate change as an existential threat. He has committed to net zero emissions by 2050, and he has a plan for net-zero electricity emissions by 2035. Australia, in contrast, is lagging woefully behind on the world stage and is an embarrassment,” Rice told the Senate.

Roberts, who has worked across the energy sector in the United States, criticised the proposal saying Biden’s US $2 trillion investment into the renewable energy sector would inevitably send electricity prices skyrocketing.

He also noted that it would expand reliance on solar and wind energy, while shutting down base-load energy sources.

“I understand the Greens are getting excited that a Biden or Harris presidency will advance the socialist, green agenda. What will this socialist, green agenda do to the United States?” Roberts said.

He pointed to a Stanford University research paper that estimates (pdf) Biden’s proposed economic agenda will cost the nation 4.9 million jobs over the next decade.

Further, it calculated a decrease of US $2.6 trillion to the country’s gross domestic product, and a drop of $6,500 for the average median household income.

“This is news to most people that I talk to, which is a damning indictment of the news media,” Roberts told the Senate.

“The presentation of news is worse than just fake news; mainstream media has devolved to being propaganda,” he continued.

He reminded the senators proposing the motion that elections were not called by “the media or by political parties” and that the final results were still being decided.

Media outlets across the United States and Australia have declared Biden as president-elect, after they projected victories for him in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Nevada.

However, the current U.S. President Donald Trump, has alleged voting irregularities and said any declarations of victory are premature, with his campaign announcing multiple legal challenges across several states.

Some Liberal Party backbenchers have also expressed scepticism over the voting process including members of Parliament Craig Kelly and George Christensen.