Australian Greens leader becomes target of fabricated tweet about drugs policy

The fabricated tweet -- purportedly posted from Bandt's verified Twitter account -- was shared on Facebook on August 11.

The tweet reads: "Yearly reminder that drug dealers aren't to blame for your loved one's banned drug-related problems.

"Quite the opposite: dealers often act as community elders, keeping an eye out for regulars and providing a stigma-free community connection point."

The post's caption reads: "Breaking News, Greens Leader Adam Bandt believes Drug Dealers are community elders keeping and (sic) eye out, I don't think Adam has watched Breaking Bad."

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A screenshot of the Facebook post as of August 21, 2022.

Bandt has been the federal leader of the Australian Greens party since 2020.

The screenshot of the fabricated tweet -- which does not include a timestamp -- was also shared on Facebook here and here; and on Twitter here.

Fake tweet

A spokesperson for the Australian Greens party told AFP the tweet was "fake".

"This message was not posted by Mr Adam Bandt and does not reflect his views on drug law reform," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the party's drug law reform policies are included in this document published on its website.

"The Greens will legalise and regulate cannabis, and adopt a health-based approach to drug use by introducing pill testing, expanding safe injecting rooms, funding drug and alcohol treatment, and fully funding opioid agonist therapy," the spokesperson said.

This search for the purported message on Bandt's Twitter account did not find any matching tweets.

The purported tweet was also not shown in this archive record of his account captured on August 9.

Australian writer's message

A near-identical tweet was posted on August 7 by Katie Horneshaw, an Australian writer covering addiction and mental health, who told AFP that she wrote it.

The final phrase in Horneshaw's original tweet ("Blame prohibition") was deleted in the fabricated tweet.

Horneshaw said: "In terms of its content -- I'd firstly like to clarify a common misunderstanding that arises from many of my tweets: I didn't say that all drug dealers are part of the local community, just that they "often act" in this capacity.

"The reason I don't qualify my tweets by explicitly pointing out that some drug dealers are unkind or exploitative is that there's no need to point this out -- people already believe it."

Horneshaw said that she uses Twitter to challenge preconceptions about drug use.

"The purpose of my Twitter account is to share information that challenges stigmatising views on substance use/users, because that's where the stereotypes and false assumptions lie," she said.

AFP has previously debunked false claims about the Australian Greens, including that the party planned to introduce mandatory Covid-19 vaccination following the 2022 Australian federal election.