One Nation’s Anning Domain Redirects Explained
A company called ‘GOLD IMPALA PTY LTD’ registered Fraser Anning-related domain names during the federal election.
The Unshackled has been made privy to documents indicating that a paid Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (PHON) staffer was behind the registration of website domains that redirected traffic to the One Nation website, in what appeared to be an attack on the campaign of Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party (FACNP) during the 2019 federal election.
Gold Impala PTY LTD
In the leadup to the 2019 federal election, shortly after the formation of FACNP in March, six domain names (listed below) were claimed by an entity listed as ‘Gold Impala PTY LTD’. This entity is registered with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) under the name ‘Aidan Nagle’.
Who is Aidan Nagle? I called the One Nation head office in Pinkenba to confirm or dispel Nagle’s involvement in the party. I spoke with a gentleman by the name of Rod Miles. When I mentioned the name Aidan Nagle and the federal election, the most unusual thing occurred – the line cut out! One minute later, I got a call back and it was explained to me that Nagle “did a bit of marketing work” during the federal election.
Mr Miles confirmed that Aidan Nagle had worked as a WA candidate liaison and national membership manager, adding that “Aidan’s moved on to a lot of different things in the four years he’s been in the party, and now works for Senator Roberts (Malcolm Roberts) in the senate office”.
I asked him whether or not he held any significant role during the federal election and I was informed that he “helped us design our artwork” and worked across “many different facets”, had “a lot to do with our candidates, a lot to do with our campaign”, that “he wasn’t contracting, he was employed by the party”.
In regards to the “artwork” Nagle had helped work on, “he was a liaise point with one of our offsite artistic people that we contract to work for us”. He did not disclose what entity it was they were contracting to.
When I asked whether he could comment on the facts related to Gold Impala PTY LTD (registered under Aidan Nagle) domain registrations related to FACNP that redirected to One Nation websites, his response was “I have no knowledge of that”.
You can see in the video below that those domains did indeed link to the One Nation website. Curious indeed.
You can also find additional commentary by ‘anxiousaussie’ on this matter here.
Domain Registrations Disputes
The cost of registering a domain name on GoDaddy costs as little as $12.45 for the first year of registration. To register six domain names would have cost someone as little as $74.
Who paid for the domain registration? Did Nagle pay for this out of his own pocket, or was he provided with the funds to do so? Who provided those funds? Who provided the technical IT knowledge to reroute those domains to the One Nation website? Who authorised this to occur?
FACNP ended up registering a “.org” domain shortly after discovering the domain-squatting issues. How many curious voters were re-routed to the One Nation website? We may never know. When you try any of those websites now, there is no website, but the domains are still registered to Gold Impala PTY LTD.
On the topic of cybersquatting, the domainregistration.com.au information centre says this on its website.
“While cybersquatting is more common in relation to .com, .net and .org registrations as Australia has quite restrictive policy rules and registration processes, cybersquatting on .au domain names does occur from time to time. Cybersquatting can also include registering a domain name for the express purpose of resale – this is not permitted under auDA policies. Australian businesses and organisations that feel they have fallen victim to a cybersquatter who has registered an Australian domain name identical to their own business or organisation name, or a “typo” version of the same name, should as a first step consult the .au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP).”
From: < https://www.domainregistration.com.au/infocentre/info-domain-cybersquatting.php?fbclid=IwAR2HauhNzNj8nN9IL6vVR6Q8aS_ZUnkLiDhgGAiU0V-h_MImfVBlkIPfehU >
So why wouldn’t you open a dispute?
This is from the auDA dispute resolution policy found here.
“ 4. HOW TO FILE A COMPLAINT UNDER THE auDRP – SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS
4.1 To determine whether a complaint can be lodged in respect of a particular domain name, the complainant may apply to auDA (using the form on the auDA website at http://www.auda.org.au/policies/audrp/) to find out the creation date of the domain name.
4.2 The complainant should ensure that they have read the entire auDRP and auDRP Rules at Schedules A and B of this document before filing their complaint. The complaint may be filed with any of the approved providers listed on auDA’s website here. The complaint must meet the requirements set out in Paragraph 3 of the auDRP Rules in Schedule B of this document, as well as any requirements detailed in the provider’s supplemental rules (available from the provider’s website).
4.3 The fee to be paid by the complainant to the provider under Paragraph 19 of the auDRP Rules in Schedule B of this document is:
a) AUD$2,000, in the case of a single member panel; and
b) AUD$4,500 in the case of a three member panel.”
From: < https://www.auda.org.au/policies/index-of-published-policies/2010/2010-05/ >
Wait, what? $2,000?! So, correct me if my knowledge is patchy here. To file disputes for six different domains, the cost would likely exceed $12,000? Not a a cheap way recover your online names when the other party has made only a $74 investment.
We welcome comment from One Nation regarding the further questions that were raised by this investigation. In fact, we implore you: please explain. We will be publishing more details on this developing story in the coming days.
Recently some left wing (redundant much?) academics urged the major parties to blacklist One Nation. there have been people unhappy with One Nation on the right too, after they preselected a Muslim candidate.
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