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A Facebook encounter with a stranger: Why the cloak and dagger behaviour?

By December 17, 2025January 15th, 2026No Comments
This long article shares my exchanges with a suspicious Facebook account : Hannah Williams. Hannah’s Facebook handle is @mo.money.589914.
Setting up a fake Facebook account to engage me in conversation shows the community independent movement on the Mornington Peninsula has been taken over by those who do not ascribe to the values of transparency, accountability, integrity, being your best self and doing politics differently.
Someone involved in the community independent movement since its inception and a close observer of Smith’s campaign for Flinders said: “These are not community independents, and their theft of that term should be challenged at every opportunity… There’s still room for genuine community independents.”
The fake account began commenting on my public Facebook Page on 12 December. However, it was not until 17 December – when a friend suggested that this stranger was commenting on my posts for “nefarious reasons” – that I began to ask questions: Was this an unethical political game with someone involved in the community independent movement? Or was this a legitimate exchange from someone late to the party who was merely seeking some background?
If it was the latter, it was certainly a weird exchange in which to end a deeply upsetting year for me. It was the year Simon Holmes à Court and Byron Faye at Climate 200, Ben Smith, the community endorsed candidate for Flinders, and members of Independent 4 Flinders (I4F) organising team (that I had initially established) refused to meet to discuss constructive critical feedback about Smith’s campaign. They were invited to a meeting two months before Hast published his article. Rather than meet, I received the fire-hose. In response to their ill-informed and unfair attacks, I published ‘Realigning the community independent movement with its values‘.
If it is the former, these childish and unethical political games provide further evidence that the community independent movement on the Mornington Peninsula has lost its way.
Here are some warnings I received. They are all speculative.
“If it’s not *** it’s a member of his inner circle and he probably knows about it. Interesting they’re still whining all these months later.”
“I read all of “her” comments as male for some reason”.
“I looked at her profile, no friends, no photos yadda yadda .. def someone created to do phishing with you.”
“I reckon it’s a bot that someone has set up. The question is: who?”
My colleague and mentor had wise words:
“Tread carefully, just in case.”
The fact that several people, including myself, have doubts about the identity of the owner of the FB account demonstrated the damage the recent federal campaign in Flinders did to trust, transparency and integrity in the community independent movement on the Mornington Peninsula.
I considered the ethics of sharing my private conversations with ‘Hannah’. In my view, someone who creates a suspicious Facebook account for the sole purpose of communicating with me forgoes the right for our personal messages to be kept confidential. Transparency is a fundamental value of mine. I also note, in the event that Simon Holmes à Court reads this article, writing “In Confidence” at the beginning of an email has no legal basis. One party can’t unilaterally impose confidentiality; there must be a shared understanding that the receiver accepts, even if implied by circumstances.
On 6 November 2024, I warned a member of the I4F organising team about Climate 200. I suggested I4F’s role was to build community by listening to what issues matter to people (i.e. KTCs). Instead, a Climate 200 employee had designed teal campaign flyers. These flyers nominated climate, housing and integrity without any discussion with the local community.  In my view, Climate 200 had become emboldened after the success of the teals in 2022. This member of I4F organising team told me to “trust” both I4F organising team and Climate 200.
It is worth noting that after the Smith’s campaign, this member of I4F’s organising team was dispirited. On 18 December 2025, he stated: “I’m obviously a slow learner but, like [Name] after the 2022 election, I have come to the realisation that politics, and those who relish playing that game, are not for me.”
My sleuthing determined that there is only one person called “Hannah Williams” who lives on the Mornington Peninsula. She used to live around the corner from Ben Smith. This may be a coincidence.
I also discovered that the real Hannah Williams teaches at a local school. I sent the school an email.
The purpose of my email was to ask if the Hannah Williams who teaches at this school communicated with strangers using a Fake Facebook account. If yes, Hannah needs to know that her interactions have caused me distress. If this is not the Hannah Williams who teaches at this school – Hannah needed to be informed that someone had stolen her identity and was using it for malevolent reasons.
While waiting for a reply from the school, I sent the Facebook “Hannah Williams” a Personal Message to let them know I had decided to block them, something I have never done before on my public page. I also shared with them the email I had sent the school.
I have now spoken with the real Hannah. It is most definitely not her with whom I have engaged with over the past few days.
I can now confirm that someone set up a fake account using Hannah Williams name just for the purpose of engaging with me, and drawing me into conversations. How bizarre given my willingness to discuss the history of the community independent movement with anyone over a cup of coffee.
After speaking with the real Hannah, I sent a personal message to the fake Hannah.
I have now spoken with Hannah. You have caused her significant distress. Many people have speculated that you are *** in disguise. I don’t think *** is that stupid. However, **** from C200 maybe. Why go to all this trouble when I have told you on numerous occasions that I am willing to talk?
This message remained unsent because the account @mo.money.589914 had been disabled. It became a generic Facebook Account.

Soon after this article on my website went live, I began receiving emails from people who assumed Climate 200 were behind Hannah. For example, a person who had followed the community independent movement closely during 2025 election:  “Based on reading this entire interchange between you and Hannah, my guess is Climate 200 want you and your observations of their behaviour during Smith’s campaign out of the picture”.  He also suggested that the “Climate 200 campaigners play harder and nastier than anything I have ever seen in party-politics.” Whether either of his statements are true, they provide further evidence of how Smith’s campaign was perceived by some in the Flinders electorate.

Others thought it was someone from the Smith’s campaign, perhaps even Smith himself. Apparently, Smith’s campaign team members regularly changed names and identities online. I did not follow Smith’s social media, so I have no idea if this is correct. However, if it is, I am disappointed given the importance  of “transparency” and “integrity” in the community independent movement.

I thought the owner of the fake account may be a Climate 200 employee who had volunteered on Smith’s campaign. So I sent him a picture of the fake account with the following message:

“Many people think this is *** in disguise. But I think it may be you. You are the only person I know who has the digital skills. Today, a person who helped start the community independent movement in Indi contacted me. She said: “These are not community independents, and their theft of that term should be challenged at every opportunity.” She thanked me for the work I had done over past week to expose what she called “dirty tactics”. Can you please tell your mates at C200 and Smith insiders to leave me alone. I am heartbroken at what you have all done to the movement on the Mornington Peninsula. I warned a member of I4F’s organising team on 6 November 2024 – and he emailed me recently to say: ” I have come to the realisation that politics and those who relish playing that game are not for me.” We believe in transparency, accountability, integrity and “doing politics differently”. What exactly do you guys believe in?

Soon afterwards, all the comments on my public Facebook page were deleted. This reminded me of Smith’s deleted posts on the Community of Christ website.

Given I had a record of all Hannah’s comments, I reposted these comments and attributed them to “Fake Account”.

Recent evidence suggests this mob of political activists engage in political games, creating fake online identities and going after those who criticise their behaviour. This behaviour is the antithesis of the community independent movement.

I am so glad this saga is over. The experience has unsettled me (perhaps that was its purpose?)
On 23 December, I was sent a photo of Smith’s office in Mornington. I was told this is evidence that Smith is planning to contest the State Seat of Mornington. Let’s hope a genuine ‘community independent’ – someone authentic who represents the values of community independent movement (transparency, accountability, integrity and “doing politics differently”), and does not play political games – also stands. We need to reclaim the values of the community independent movement on the Mornington Peninsula
Strap yourself in, this is quite a story and it is the length of a Quarterly Essay.
After reading the  2025 Federal Election Study, I was reminded of the difference between quantitative and qualitative research. I have published extensively on this issue including ‘One in five Australians‘ on Radio National’s Perspective and “Our lives are too messy to reduce to a statistic” and “Unreliable statistics leave many out in the cold“, both published in The Age. My intention is to write a commentary piece about the election study (however my recent priority was opinion pieces about the NACC Commissioner and why he should resign.
On December 12, 2025, I posted:
In March 2021, the community independent movement on the Mornington Peninsula began. I hosted a motley crew on my deck to discuss forming a not-for-profit organisation: Voices of the Mornington Peninsula (VMP).
As a qualitative researcher, I have documented all the ups and downs over the past 4 years. A highlight was endorsing Claire Boardman; a low light was her withdrawal. Fortunately the disparate groups came together to form Independent 4 Flinders in 2024. And then, of course, there was Ben Smith’s campaign.
My personal highlight was facilitating 20+ Kitchen Table Conversations in 2021-2022. Unlike quantitative researchers who ask people to rate specific issues on a scale of 1-10 (e.g 2025 Australian Federal Election Study), qualitative researchers ask people what issues matter to them. As you can see below, these methodologies provide different insights into issues that most concern local voters.
‘Hannah Williams’, using the handle @mo.money.589914, responded to this post. Over 1,200 people have engaged with this post, a tenfold increase.

“Why did Claire withdraw? Sounds like a shame if the ‘formula’ of kitchen table conversations is what produced her as a candidate. Would also be really interested to know about the demographics of the kitchen table conversations you conducted, and how qualitative researchers are working to include those who are usually un-represented at these conversations (whereas they’re ‘easier’ to access for quantitative reports such as the Federal Election Study – which consequently seem more representative of the overall voting population)”

I replied:
You misunderstand the purpose of KTCs. They are not a “formula” to find a candidate. They are a process of community engagement, building and empowerment. Both Dr Yoland Wadsworth and Mary Crooks have written about this methodology. Or you could read Alana Johnson’s chapters ‘Conversations can change the world’ and ‘The people who aren’t interested in politics’ in ‘Voices for Indi: They Indi Way’.
For KTCs to be useful, they need to be current (‘issues that matter’ change, as demonstrated by the Federal Election Study). They also need to be inclusive – participants need to be representative of the electorate. In 2003, I published an article in Australian Qualitative Research Journal about how to engage people in research who are usually unrepresented. I am happy to share this article with you though I only have a hard copy. I also published an article in The Age that was critical of qualitative researchers who use ‘convenience samples’. I am a strong believer that qualitative research must be representative.
Hannah:
Thanks for this. Can you share about the demographics of the 20 KTCs you conducted?
Sarah:
Amongst all your questions, I missed this one – Would you like to see the KTC report that I wrote in 2022? It explains the demographics. It was my understanding that this report (like in other Voices groups that were using Indi as the ‘role model’) would be shared with members. Unfortunately, this did not happen.
Sarah:
Your other question: “Why did Claire withdraw?” motivates me to write a history of the community independent movement on the Mornington Peninsula. It would be a page-turner!
I will keep this as brief as possible – but it is quite a yarn.
Soon after the inaugural Community Independents Convention “Getting Elected” in 2021, Michael Stephens organised a group of people to meet on my deck to discuss forming a not-for-profit organisation: Voices of the Mornington Peninsula (VMP). Although I was never a member of the VMP board, I was aware of how incredibly hard board members worked to get VMP off the ground: KTCs were the initial priority and then finding a candidate.
VMP established a rigorous community process for selecting a candidate. I had met Despi during one of my KTCs and was very impressed with her (I had recently moved to Mt Martha so did not know she was the Mayor). I suggested she applied. She did, along with 2 others.
In December, Claire Boardman won VMPs endorsement (the vote was close – Claire 11 votes; Despi 7 votes).
Almost immediately after* VMP members were told that Claire was our candidate, Despi (supported by Climate 200) announced in The Age that she was running as an independent candidate for Flinders.
*This is incorrect. On 7 December (4 days before VMP members were told that we had endorsed Claire) Despi announced that she was running as an independent candidate for Flinders. This shocked many of us [because it was our understanding that Climate 200 supported the community endorsed candidate. Claire was the community endorsed candidate, not Despi.]
Many VMP members supported Despi (she was a strong candidate and a popular Mayor). 3 months later, in February 2022, Claire decided to withdraw due to the split vote and no funding from Climate 200. This left VMP board in a difficult position: Should they encourage members to get behind Despi or should they run another Voices endorsed candidate? They decided to ask members. At a meeting in Dromana, members voted to run a candidate (the vote was close).
At the last minute, two of us offered to be the candidate. Members voted for me. I knew I had no chance of winning (I only campaigned for 2 months). My only aim as the VMP endorsed candidate was to keep Voices alive on the Mornington Peninsula.
I was genuinely surprised to get more than 4% of the vote. As it turned out, I got 5.25% (Despi got 7.2%). I was able to use the money from AEC to start the Progressives of the Peninsula – and work to bring the fractured Flinders community (Despi supporters; Sarah supporters) back together.
Last thing: After having 2 independent candidates in 2022, I suggested applicants for 2025 signed a simple agreement stating: “I agree that if not selected, I will not initiate a separate campaign as an independent candidate for the same election in Flinders electorate”. We did not need another clusterfuck!!
Hannah:
Thank you for this explanation. So what I can gather from this is that Claire Boardman withdrew because she would not receive Climate 200 funding? And because Despi had decided to run anyway? I’m curious about the lack of Climate 200 funding being a driver for her withdrawl, given how strongly you’ve spoken out against Climate 200 funding candidates. I’m also curious as to why you ended up running when you were also wanting to bring the fractured VMP community back together, rather than getting behind Despi and not splitting the Independent vote? I see your intention in asking 2025 applicants to agree not to run if not selected, but not sure how this stacks up legally. How did you go with Progressives of the Peninsula and bringing the ‘Despi’ and ‘Sarah’ supporters back together?
Sarah:
No Hannah. Claire withdrew primarily because of the split vote. Having 2 “community independents” made it impossible for either Despi or Claire to win. You also misrepresent my position on Climate 200. Several members of my family donate to Climate 200 because we believe their [Climate 200] money is important in levelling the playing field. Climate 200 money was instrumental in electing Zoe Daniel in Goldstein, Monique Ryan in Kooyong, Kate Chaney in Curtin, Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Sophie Scamps in Mackellar, Kylea Tink in North Sydney and David Pocock in the Senate. These MPs/Senators have been fabulous. However, as someone who has been involved the community independent movement for over 10 years told me (and it is documented in my evidence-based qualitative report that you are welcome to read): “There’s no doubt a large machine has been created around the community independents movement – where money has been prioritised over community. We need money to campaign, but not at the expense of what the movement is all about.”
It is a shame that you were not involved in the community independent movement in 2021-2022. After Claire withdrew, I suggested the board consider asking members of VMP their views about having a candidate or not. The board held 3 well attended meetings in Balnarring, Dromana and Rye where members discussed their views: Some said VMP should not have a candidate but instead continue to engage the community in KTCs. Others said VMP should have a candidate. At the Balnarring and Dromana meetings, I spoke in favour of having a candidate because I believed that was the best way to engage everyone on the peninsula in democracy. Without a candidate, I thought we would be able to engage only those who are already politically engaged (like those of us who attended these meetings). But the challenge was to also engage those who are currently disengaged. I thought we need a candidate to do this. As I said yesterday, the vote was close (in fact there was some [shameful] politicking prior to the vote to encourage members to vote against having a candidate – which was in contrast to Voices principles of ‘doing politics differently’). Once the vote was “To have a candidate” I thought I should ‘put my money where my mouth’ was and nominate. Here is the last paragraph of my ‘candidate speech’ –
“If we decide today not to have a candidate, I will be VMP’s community engagement co-ordinator with bells on. I will do my best to engage as many people as possible in our organisation. If you decide to have me as your candidate I will give the election a red hot go starting tomorrow with a strategy meeting on my deck, the same place where I first became involved in VMP.” And I did give it a red hot go – Many people told me my website with detailed polices was the reason they voted for me. I did not just have motherhood statements nor did I jump on the bandwagon of local issues and claim them as my own.
Regarding your point about the statement “I agree that if not selected, I will not initiate a separate campaign as an independent candidate for the same election in Flinders electorate”. This turned into a ridiculous document that the 2 candidates signed. I have included a copy in my report. Ben Smith referred to this document as a NDA. It is no such thing and has no legal basis.
And your final point about “bringing the community together after the 2022 clusterfuck”. Progressives of the Peninsula has around 600 members – so I’d say I did OK at healing the wounds. Simon Holmes à Court texted* me to say that we could not launch our new candidate under the auspices of Progressives. So I then spent months building Independent 4 Flinders. Simon then texted me that I am “too left” to remain on the organising team, so I left (pun intended). Evidence of these texts are in the appendices of my report – that you are welcome to read. The interesting thing – from my perspective – is it was members of the Progressives and I4F who contacted me wth criticisms of  Smith’s campaign. I was overwhelmed with these messages. So I decided to put these messages (de-identified, of course) in a report. The title of my report is: “Community Independent Movement in Flinders: lessons from the 2025 federal election”. After I completed the report, a local editor and former journalist (who I had met in the dog park) offered to proof read it pro bono. 6 weeks later he told me he wanted to write a commentary piece about Smith’s election campaign – I introduced him to MWM and the rest is history. The response to my report has been very positive from many people in the community independent movement. There have however been some notable exceptions who reacted with defamatory comments in a WhatsApp group. Some people clearly don’t understand the importance of constructive critical feedback – it was ever thus!
*Simon Holmes à Court told me at the Sorrento Writers Festival, not in a text, that we could not launch a candidate via Progressives of the Peninsula. As I state in the report, this was never our intention. Progressives of the Peninsula includes people who support Labor, Greens, Animal Justice Party and Community independents.
I was becoming tired of typing. So I sent this ‘Hannah” the following personal message:
Hi Hannah – You have asked some very good questions on my FB Page. Would you like to meet sometime? I always think face-to-face is better than trying to engage via social media.
Although Hannah saw the question, she continued to engage on the public page.
Hannah:
i didn’t realise you were involved with Ben Smiths campaign and wrote a report on it, is your report available to access somewhere?
Sarah:
I was NOT involved in Smith’s campaign. I spend quite a lot of time responding to your questions so it is disappointing that you don’t read them carefully.
Yes the report is available – and many people in the community independent movement have read it. Please respond to my Personal Message (that I see you have read) and I will let you know how you can access it. I am turning my phone off now so I can work.
Hannah:
Thanks – just clarifying given you’ve written a report on it so that gave me the impression you were somehow involved. My apologies! Have a good day.
Sarah:
Cut and pasting from my blog
This report provides important lessons for future community independent campaigns. It collates messages sent to me before, during and after the 2025 federal election. I received around 400 messages, all unsolicited. These messages included emails, texts and screenshots from social media/WhatsApp. These messages have been de-identified and analysed thematically.
The feedback was mostly from members of the Progressives of the Peninsula. I also had conversations with several community leaders who attended the inaugural Independent 4 Flinders meetings that I convened in May 2024. They expressed their concern that Smith’s campaign was inconsistent with the values of the community independent movement.
I undertook this qualitative research project after the 2025 federal election because I want community independent movements around Australia to consider the feedback from those who believed mistakes were made in Flinders.
A limitation of this document is that people who were dissatisfied with Smith’s campaign were more likely to contact me than those who were satisfied. Despite the bias in this report, this critical feedback is constructive and important for the future of the community independent movement.
(difficult to turn my phone off when I need to use it to work. I need a teenager to teach me how to stop it beeping when I receive a notification about a comment on my FB page!)

I feel compelled to make one last point (also cut and pasting from my blog). This is something that Simon Holmes à Court does not understand.

Qualitative research is neither “right” nor “wrong”. It simply documents people’s views. Many people expressed the view that Smith’s campaign was inconsistent with the values of the community independent movement. Their views are valid even if Smith supporters disagree with them. A limitation of this research report, however, is that people who were dissatisfied with Smith’s campaign were more likely to contact me than those who were satisfied. Despite the potential for bias in this report, the critical feedback is constructive.
If the Community independent movement is to thrive, and I hope it does, people need to be able to offer critical feedback without fear of retribution or the loss of friendships.
On December 13 I shared Nick Feik’s article with the following comment:
I’ve been reflecting on the similarities between an investigative “journalist” and a qualitative researcher. Nick Feik’s fabulous article helped me understand the venn diagram better.
Like qualitative research, “journalism’s objective isn’t to bring change. It’s to observe, record, explain.” Having said that, both qualitative research and journalism “still rests on a fundamental optimism, a belief that facts and truth will eventually be the basis of positive action; if people understand a problem, they will act. I don’t even know if this is true, but I prefer it over moral nihilism. Perhaps you don’t even need to be so idealistic. Understanding a problem is surely a necessary precondition to fixing it, so we should at least start with that.”
On December 15, I posted one of the comments I had made in a long thread – because many people, including I4F organising team, are not aware of VMP’s history and why I stepped up to replace Claire Boardman.
Recently, Hannah Williams asked: Why did Claire Boardman withdraw as the Voices endorsed independent candidate for Flinders in the 2019 federal election?
Her question motivates me to one day write a history of the community independent movement on the Mornington Peninsula. It would be a page-turner!
I thought it best to share my answer in a post. I have tried to keep it as brief as possible – but it is quite a yarn.
Soon after the inaugural Community Independents Convention “Getting Elected” in 2021, Michael Stephens organised a group of people to meet on my deck to discuss forming a not-for-profit organisation: Voices of the Mornington Peninsula (VMP). Although I was never a member of the VMP board, I was aware of how incredibly hard board members worked to get VMP off the ground: KTCs and forums were the initial priority, and then finding a candidate.
VMP established a rigorous community process for selecting a candidate. I had met Despi during one of my KTCs and was very impressed with her (I had recently moved permanently to Mt Martha so did not know she was the Mayor). I suggested she applied. She did, along with 2 others.
In December, Claire Boardman won VMPs endorsement (the vote was close).
Almost immediately after VMP members were told that Claire was our candidate, Despi (supported by Climate 200) announced in The Age that she was running as an independent candidate for Flinders. This shocked many of us because it was our understanding that Climate 200 supported community endorsed candidates.
Despi’s decision to run solo divided the community.
Several VMP members supported Despi (she was a strong candidate and a popular Mayor). 3 months later, in February 2022, Claire decided to withdraw due to the split vote and no funding from Climate 200. This left VMP board in a difficult position: Should they encourage members to get behind Despi or should they run another Voices endorsed candidate? They decided to ask members. At a meeting in Dromana, members voted to run a candidate (the vote was close).
At the last minute, two of us offered to be the candidate. Members voted for me. I knew I had no chance of winning (I had a very short campaign and only received donations from local people who shared my values). My only aim as the VMP endorsed candidate was to keep Voices alive on the Mornington Peninsula.
I was genuinely surprised to get more than 4% of the vote. As it turned out, I got 5.25%; Despi got 7.2%. The total was around the same as Julia Banks (13.8%), demonstrating that a community independent has a genuine chance in Flinders in the near future.
I was able to use the money from AEC to start the Progressives of the Peninsula – and work to bring the fractured Flinders community (Despi supporters; Sarah supporters) back together.
After having 2 independent candidates in 2022, I suggested I4F applicants for 2025 signed a simple agreement stating: “I agree that if not selected, I will not initiate a separate campaign as an independent candidate for the same election in Flinders electorate”. We did not need another clusterfuck!!
Hannah replied:
I’ve responded to your reply on the original post, but I’m curious about the part you added here “My only aim as the VMP endorsed candidate was to keep Voices alive on the Mornington Peninsula.” I find this interesting, that your intention in running was to keep your group alive, rather than the collective goal of electing an Independent representative for Flinders? It feels a bit like party-in-fighting and grandstanding so I’m interested as to how you thought running yourself would support the movement’s goals overall?
Sarah:
 I have just spent an hour responding to your questions on another post. I need to get to work – so I will respond to these additional questions tomorrow. But just to clarify – I cut and pasted my comment into this post (I may have done some editing afterwards, I don’t recall). The sentence “My only aim as the VMP endorsed candidate was to keep Voices alive on the Mornington Peninsula.” was also in the comment. It was certainly not grandstanding – I was responding to the wishes of the members. This new movement on the Mornington Peninsula was a grassroots movement that listened to its members. Incidentally, in a meeting on 23 June 2024, the members of I4F unanimously said they wanted a female candidate. Their views were ignored.
Although all your questions are important, and I welcome the discussion, this deluge of questions (that began AFTER the recent tragedy) seem to me to be self indulgent given the current tragedy. I suggest we continue the discussion after the holidays.
2 people commented on the post

1. As I understood it, Claire thought that there was money available for the campaign, that VMP was to fund her. She neither had her own funds, nor time to raise it.

Despi went on to split the independent vote, lacking integrity in an opportunistic run despite failing VMP preselection.
2. and as councillor for Briars Ward she stood down for 8 months while running for election. I think that as an elected councillor you’re in for the full term unless it’s health issues.
Hannah replied to the first comment:
Where did Claire think the money was coming from, and why wasn’t that made clear before she was selected? I thought a community independent was supposed to raise their own funds? From this outside vantage point, it seems like there was a breakdown in communication during the process? If there was a bit of that going on, it seems reasonable that Despi would run her own race after what seems to have potentially been a poorly run process? I often see multiple ‘independents’ on the ballot paper so surely there’s nothing stopping that?
In the morning on 16 December, I sent Hannah another personal message:
Hi again Hannah. The suspicion around your FB account – and the fact that many people have told me you are “*** *****” speaks to our community’s lack of trust after Smith’s campaign. I was not involved in the campaign for a number of reasons. Most importantly, a good friend is dying in Northcote – and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her. However I was inundated with messages about the campaign – so I think it’s fair to say the community is again fractured. Recently Simon Holmes a Court emailed me suggesting the flinders community needs to come together, and respected people need to make a concerted effort to squash misinformation. I simply don’t have the energy to do it again.
Hannah did not read this message so later in the day, I posted a screenshot of Hannah’s suspicious account with the following comment
I have woken up this morning to several PMs telling me this is a suspicious account. Many people have speculated about who owns this account. They have based their speculation on the fact that the account was opened on 16 October, the day I posted some criticism of a disingenuous press release sent to MP News.
If they are correct about who owns this account, this is further evidence about this person’s integrity and political judgement.
I do not do “speculation” so yesterday I messaged “Hannah” asking to meet. I believe face-to-face meetings are not only more time efficient (I spent an hour this morning answering more questions) but are much more effective than typing.
In my view, people involved in the community independent movement in Flinders need to understand its history. If you fail to learn history, you are doomed to repeat it.
Hannah:
Hi Sarah and those concerned, no suspicion, speculation or conspiracy to be had. I’m a keen observer of how this has all developed over the last few elections having seen the changes in flinders from Greg Hunt through to now, and am interested in the back story. I don’t tend to engage on Facebook (for reasons that you’ve noted) but I did choose to query your article in October to better understand the history and your stance particularly when it comes to funding and decision making, as it was contrary to what I’d seen elsewhere. It’s a shame to hear how fractured the group became. Thanks for answering my questions.
Sarah:
I’d be delighted to meet you sometime. Your questions are insightful and I have done my best to answer them – I’m working to a Christmas deadline – so my answers are rather rushed. I have a 110-page report that covers many of the issues that you have raised – it includes the history of VMP, I4F and Smith’s campaign and its aftermath. As a qualitative researcher (30 years experience), the report is comprehensive (in fact, I have cut and pasted from it to answer some of your questions).
 I notice you are no longer reading your PMs – so I thought I’d cut and paste my message from this morning here:
“Hi again Hannah. The suspicion around your FB account – and the fact that many people have told me you are “******” speaks to our community’s lack of trust after Smith’s campaign. I was not involved in the campaign for a number of reasons. Most importantly, a good friend from my home town of Northcote is dying – and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her, her partner and their 11 year old daughter.
However I was inundated with messages about the campaign – from members of Progressives of the Peninsula and Independent 4 Flinders. So I think it’s fair to say the community is again fractured.
Recently Simon Holmes a Court emailed me suggesting the flinders community needs to come together, and respected people need to make a concerted effort to squash misinformation. I replied to Simon that I simply don’t have the energy to do it again.
Hannah:
I haven’t tended to my DMs today, I’ll get to them later. Thanks for your reply.
For everyone following along, apparently we have quite the audience! – sorry to disappoint you, evidently you think I’m someone other than who I am, I’m sure that person is quite capable of asking these questions themselves (I’d be surprised if they don’t already know all this?) Anyway, Sarah has been great at satisfying my curiosity so, that’s all from me. As you were!
Sarah (18 December):
Goodness me. I have woken up to a message about your statement “as you were”.
A stranger (perhaps she also has a fake account), has written:
“A man is more likely to say “as you were” due to the phrase’s strong association with historically male-dominated environments, such as the armed forces and the church. So I reckon it is likely to be ***. But I thought *** was smarter than this. So perhaps it’s that guy who wiped the CoC website? Or maybe someone from C200. Hell I don’t know – but this person has most definitely come into your FB group for nefarious reasons”.
Please don’t reply. I’ve had my fill of this puerile nonsense. First I had Simon’s bullying “in confidence” email (that I took time to respond to carefully) and now questions from a fake account. It’s really too much.
I will end with a text I received from a local friend. She is the only person with whom I shared Simon’s email (because I was worried about the impact all this nonsense was having on my mental health):
“The contrast between Simon’s approach and yours is mind boggling!!!
At no time do you revert to personal attacks, but rationally, with back up facts, rebut his bluster!
I dip my lid to your courage, integrity, and commitment to a true community independent movement, but please look after yourself.
Many people care deeply for you.”
On Tuesday 16 December, I began communicating with ‘Hannah’ via Personal Messages. I would not normally share personal messages, but a fake account does not deserve the same consideration as a normal private conversation.
Hi again Hannah. The suspicion around your FB account – and the fact that many people have told me you are “*** *****” speaks to our community’s lack of trust after Smith’s campaign. I was not involved in the campaign for a number of reasons. Most importantly, a good friend is dying in Northcote – and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her. However I was inundated with messages about the campaign – so I think it’s fair to say the community is again fractured. Recently Simon Holmes a Court emailed me suggesting the flinders community needs to come together, and respected people need to make a concerted effort to squash misinformation. I simply don’t have the energy to do it again.
There was no response. So 3 hours later, I tried again.
You are welcome to read the report. For obvious reasons it is only available in hard copy. So let me know when you’d like to read it. sarahrussell@comcen.com.au
I absolutely am not *** ***** you can reassure yourself and your friends of that – I don’t even know him. It’s odd though that people think that anyone interested in this history must be [Name]? I’m simply an observer of how the community independent model has evolved here having seen it do so well in other places, and was curious about why you were so against Smith’s campaign after such a long time in this arena. I do have acquintences (sic) who volunteered in it so I do know that some of what you previously said in October was untrue, that’s why I’ve been interested in more of the back story to get the full picture. I would have like to have been involved at some point. I wish you the best.
Sarah
FYI – the people contacting me about you are not my friends. My friends moved on from the Smith “shit show” (their words, not mine) months ago. To be perfectly honest with you Hannah – I am sick of the whole Smith imbroglio. I was not keen to engage with you – because everything you asked is answered in my report. However I had just received legal advice – that a friend (who I had worked with on the Indi campaign over a decade ago) had obtained – suggesting I had a strong case of defamation against Ben Smith, Simon Holmes a Court and Luke O’Brien for comments they made after a local journalist wrote an article about Smith’s campaign. I made it crystal clear to her that I just want to move on! And then you appeared. And your questions made me want to go back under the doona (where I have spent a considerable amount of time over past 6 months.) Watching my side of politics behave so badly has been a devastating experience for me. I too wish you all the best. If you ever feel like having a face-to-face chat, I make the best coffee on the Mornington Peninsula. P.S. The analytics show you brought over a thousand people to my page over past 2 days. I hope it goes back to normal now. I really do want a peaceful life!
Hannah