Extremist Riccardo Bosi: followers duped

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He runs a fake “political party” with a fake “office” spreading a whole spectrum of fake information ranging from Covid-19 denial to false claims about the workings of Australia’s political system. But the money he’s raising from many of his tens of thousands of followers - money they’re now almost certainly set to lose - is very real. Anthony Klan shines the light on Riccardo Bosi, the pied-piper of Australia’s vulnerable and disillusioned…

EXCLUSIVE

ANTHONY KLAN

Far-right conspiracy theorist Riccardo Bosi has failed to register his “political party” despite more than two-and-a-half years of promises, and has now almost certainly run out of time to do so before the Federal Election.

Bosi is one of the most well-known extremist, “right-wing”, conspiracy theory groups that have been involved in demonstrations in parts of Australia, including in Canberra, where Bosi last month gave a bizarre address wearing military regalia.

The previously little-known firebrand has made national headlines in recent years, including over his public calls for the execution of several high-profile Australians and for making outrageously false claims, such as that Covid-19 does not exist.

“The loathsome individuals that run this country…have persuaded too many of us that we have to kill our kids,” he told one audience in Tamworth NSW late last year.

Last month he released a video claiming Covid-19 vaccines contained “AIDS”.

“It’s part of the actual injection, so folks, do your own research as usual, work it out for yourself, make your own decision, but this is now getting extremely serious,” Bosi says in the clip.

“If you go in for a blood test, they will test you for AIDS, and you’ll get told.

“The awful truth is beginning to be revealed, so folks, you’ve got to fight back, you’ve got to join the millions marches…in Canberra and around Australia this weekend,” he says.

Bosi (62) and his wife Rhiannon (45), from Stanhope Gardens in Sydney’s outer-west, have been raising “donations” for the “support of the AustraliaOne Party”.

Yet not only does their “party” not exist, the pair have made no attempts to actually register it, it can be revealed.

That’s despite Bosi having been actively spruiking the “party” - which was born out of former Liberal Senator Cori Bernadi’s failed “Australian Conservatives” group - since 2019.

Since 2020 Bosi has latched on to, and become a central figure in, the so-called “freedom movement”, which in 2020 and 2021 involved large anti-lockdown protests.

Bosi is a former soldier in the Australian Army, where he spent time as a special services soldier.

He left the army almost two decades ago, in 2004.

To become a political party a group needs to file with the Australian Electoral Commission its “constitution” and provide a list of at least 1,500 prospective “members”.

It takes generally takes around 12 weeks between an application being submitted and a party becoming registered, the AEC said.

The process must be completed before the election is called, when the “caretaker” period begins - which experts say must occur six weeks from now at the latest.

Bosi has filed nothing.

That’s despite donors being explicitly asked to give money “to help us fund the establishment of Australia One as a fully registered Australian political party”.

Australian Electoral Commission spokesman Evan Elkin-Smyth said it was highly unlikely AustraliaOne would now be able to become registered.

“The advertising period alone for prospective parties is 30 days, so they’re in a bit of strife time-wise,” he told The Klaxon.

“That’s if they put one in (an application) at all”.

““The advertising period alone for prospective parties is 30 days, so they’re in a bit of strife time-wise””

Bosi and his “AustraliaOne Party” have refused to respond, despite repeated requests for comment over the past week.

Telephone calls, text messages and emails - including to each of the group’s alleged “nationwide branches” - have all gone unanswered.

Bosi’s website calls for donations for the “support of the AustraliaOne Party” and collects information from donors.

The site says that it collects that information to be “in accordance with Part XX of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918” and “all Federal funding and disclosure laws and regulations”.

“In order for us to receive your donation you must accurately and completely fill out your details so that we may issue you with a receipt,” the site says.

Remarkably, there are no electoral commission laws preventing an entity or person from falsely claiming to be a “political party”, or from using a fake “party” to then raise money under false pretences.

How much AustraliaOne has raised is not known, and given it’s not a political party it is not required to lodge disclosures with the AEC.

Bosi’s Linked-In profile shows he has had limited employment in recent years, suggesting he and his wife are being personally financially supported by donations to the party they have failed to register.

“ “Bosi and his wife appear to be being financially supported by donations to the party they have failed to register””

The bio states “full-time Leader AustraliaOne Party”, with the only other employment since 2014 being connected to an entity called Lionheart Australasia Pty Ltd, through which he claims to be a “speaker” and promotes his little-known book called The Five Pillars of Real Leadership.

He registered the company name “Lionheart Australasia” in 1999, although it appears to have no website, phone number or physical address.

Bosi emerged from obscurity after running as a NSW Senate candidate in the 2019 Federal Election for Bernadi’s Australian Conservatives party.

Bernadi formed Australian Conservatives in early 2017 after he left the Liberal Party claiming it was not “right-wing” enough.

His party flopped and weeks after the May 2019 Federal Election, having failed to win a single seat, Bernadi announced it would be deregistered.

Bosi was quoted by newswire AAP at the time saying “thousands of members” in NSW would “continue their fight to be represented in state and federal parliaments”.

 “After the election Senator Cory Bernardi de-registered the party and Mr Bosi led a handful of volunteers to create AustraliaOne, a party he said will meet the neglected needs of the ‘silent majority’ of the Australian people,” another outlet reported.

Bosi’s LinkedIn social media account shows he began referring to himself as “National Leader” of the “AustraliaOne Party” months later, in October 2019.

Terrorism

Multiple terrorism experts have warned there is a serious risk that volatile or troubled individuals may carry out attacks having been radicalised by the extreme rhetoric used by “influencers” in the anti-vaxx movement.

National intelligence agency ASIO has repeatedly warned of “far-right” extremism, saying it expects an attack to occur and that far-right extremism presents 50 per cent of its counter-terrorism work.

(Tuesday marked the third anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks in which 51 people were murdered in attacks by a radicalised, “far-right” Australian terrorist.)

Much of Bosi’s public presence is via video clips posted to the internet.

In one clip, reported by The West Australian last month, Bosi expressly threatens violence.

“I’m warning everybody now we’re going to hang former prime ministers, former Justices of the High Court of Australia,” he said.

““We’re going to hang former prime ministers, former Justices of the High Court of Australia””

“The first one is going to be the prime minister if he is (found) guilty. And then there’s a group of state premiers that all must swing because they are all guilty.”

In another clip he says “we’re going to begin to make Australia ungovernable”, says  “shut down the power, the water, the sewerage, the communications to every globalist and elitist enterprise”

“We’re going to shut down the power, the water, the sewerage, the communications to every globalist and elitist enterprise.”

He even calls on foreigners to attack Australian interests.

“If our international friends want to help, you can do the same. Shut down every Australian business, every Australian industry, every Australian High Commission and every Australian Consulate,” he says.

A number of Bosi’s clips are comprised of “interviews” which give the appearance of being conducted by media, but are instead hosted by entities advancing Bosi’s cause, helping to spread his misinformation.

In one such promotion posted in November the “interviewer” says to Bosi (though providing zero evidence) that: “There’s been a lot of roadblocks been put in place to prevent A1 from officially being registered. Can you explain what’s happened?”

Bosi responds:

“We’re registered as a corporation so we’re on the track, to do so (register as a party),” he says.

“We’re establishing a very high level cyber security on our own servers and all this takes time and money to get right because we have been attacked electronically since we started.”

Bosi also provides no evidence to support the claim.

In marketing material Bosi also refers to AustraliaOne as “A1”.

In statements that appear to presage AustraliaOne failing to actually register with the AEC, Bosi says the group doesn’t need to be registered to run candidates. 

“The message to everybody is this, you don’t need to be registered as a party to run,” he states.

“And here’s the beauty of it and here’s why it doesn’t matter. 

“I’ve already run at two elections, the Eden Monaro by-election and the Queensland state election for the seat of Nicklin as an independent supported by A1,” he says.

Bosi ran as an “independent” in the 2020 Federal Eden Monaro by-election but achieved just 513 votes.

That same year the extremist conspiracy theorist ran in the Queensland state election for seat of Nicklin on the Sunshine Coast, finishing second last of six candidates.

The AEC’s Elkin-Smyth said a person connected to a “political party” can legally run in their own name, essentially as an “independent”, without having actually registered any political party.

However they cannot have the name of any “party” on the ballot paper.

“The thinking is that any support would be limited, due to the fact no ‘party’ name or logos appear on the ballot paper”, Elkin-Smyth said.

Bosi going that route would present a stark contrast to the donation soliciting claims he has been making of running a major nationwide party with candidates running in every state.

His raising money - potentially substantial sums - under false pretences is particularly concerning given many of his followers are likely vulnerable or troubled.

““Bosi raising money under false pretences is particularly concerning given many of his followers are likely vulnerable or troubled””

Whether or not Bosi has managed to obtain 1500 prospective “members” is not known.

The “Australia One Party” Facebook page has 46,000 followers, although the operator of the page has opted to keep that list from public view.

Bosi preaches views very closely aligned with conspiracy movement “QAnon”, which pushes nonsense theories such as the existence of a mythological “deep state” or “cabal” that operates an international child sex-trafficking and controls all mainstream media and government.

Security experts say much of the disinformation is spread, or otherwise encouraged, by adversaries such as China and Russia, whose aim is to sow division and undermine faith in the west’s institutions and political systems.

Virtual office

Bosi has not registered his group with the AEC, though over several years he has registered numerous business entities named “Australia One” (or similar) with the NSW Office of Fair Trading and corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The main entity is “AustraliaOne Party Incorporated” which was registered in May last year.

Since December last year it has been registered to a “virtual office” in Norwest, in Sydney’s west.

A group called Servcorp offers “virtual offices” for as little as $111.20 a month, allowing a business or other entity to give the fake appearance of having an actual physical presence.

“Your address becomes Level 5, Nexus Norwest - to use on your website, business collateral and business registration,” the Servcorp site says.

(The “address” of AustraliaOne Party Incorporated is “Nexus Building level 5, Columbia Ct”.) 

Since 2019 three business names, all “Australia One Party” have been created and cancelled.

The four directors of the current business entity “AustraliaOne Party Incorporated” are Bosi; his wife Rhiannon Bosi (45); a Scott Bevan Baker (51), of Schofields NSW; and a Milton Bruce Gillie (61), of Coorabong, on the NSW Central Coast.

In August last year Bosi filed with ASIC a 55-page document for the entity titled “federal constitution and rules”.

“The aims and objectives of AustraliaOne are, by promoting and endorsing the election of AustraliaOne candidates to the Parliaments of Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, to the Legislative Assemblies of the Australian Capital Territory & Northern Territory and to local councils,” it states.

One page it sets out an intricate “party structure diagram” - none of which actually exists.

Bosi last posted a “press release” to his site on February 17. 

It is a statement apologising to rock band INXS for spreading false claims they would be performing at one of the recent conspiracy theory protests in Canberra.

“INXS will not be performing at the Canberra Freedom Rally on Saturday 19th February 2022 as previously advertised,” it states.

“The Canberra Freedom Rally organisers apologise unreservedly to both INXS as well as the INXS fans and regret the disappointment.”

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