Bass Tadros a ‘strong’ chance for WA’s Upper House despite promoting debunked 5G theories

Election analysts say there is a real chance a WA electoral candidate who urged people to question whether 5G technology and COVID-19 may be linked — a theory that has been widely debunked — could get elected to the state’s Upper House under micro party preference-harvesting deals.

Bass Tadros is the lead candidate in the Agricultural region for the Health Australia Party and as recently as the weekend made reference to false 5G theories in a video on his Facebook page.

He asked viewers of his video if they could see a link between the rollout of 5G technology and the coronavirus pandemic — a theory which has been widely debunked.

Mr Tadros said he was referring to the work of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner when he likened the current pandemic to the 1918 Spanish Flu, suggesting that was linked to the roll-out of radio.

“Can you see a connection with that today where we have a roll-out of 5G?” Mr Tadros asked.

“We haven’t turned off 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and we’re rolling out 5G.

“We’ve got Wi-fi, we’ve got Bluetooth, we’ve got [that] much electricity in the air.

“Can you see a connection?” he asked.

Speaking to the ABC, Mr Tadros said he did not think there had been enough research into the effects of 5G, despite countless medical professionals repeatedly ruling out a connection between the technology and COVID-19.

“I don’t believe there’s any conspiracy theories here … I’m just asking the question,” he said.

“There’s a difference between what someone personally believes versus when they ask a question.”

Mr Tadros said he did not “specifically say it was the COVID virus” in his video.

“I’m talking viruses in general,” he said.

On his Facebook page, Mr Tadros also shared a video from a protest against mandatory vaccinations in Perth, but said he was not an anti-vaxxer.

While Mr Tadros would not be drawn on whether he would be inoculated himself, he said he wasn’t opposed to the COVID-19 vaccination program in Australia, and believed it should be a personal choice.

Less than one per cent of votes required to win: Analyst

ABC chief election analyst Antony Green said there was a really strong chance Mr Tadros could be elected under the current system, which allows micro parties to strike deals to win seats they otherwise would not.

“He’d get elected from under one per cent of the vote,” Mr Green said.

“All he needs to do is stay ahead of a couple of the other parties [and] he starts to gather preferences from all over the ballot paper.”

In the Agricultural region — which covers Geraldton, Moore, Central Wheatbelt and Roe — the Health Australia Party was preferenced as high as third by five micro parties, as well as the Greens.

It was also placed second by several independents.

“If he passes the Greens, who generally only get about four or five per cent of the vote in that region, they [the Health Australia Party] pick up Green preferences and then they get very close to getting elected.”

If the Health Australia Party were to be voted in, it would mean that as the global health pandemic unfolds, Mr Tadros — a potential crossbencher — could influence whether legislation passes through parliament.

A Greens spokeswoman said the party had placed him directly after its own candidates after it had gone through the party’s policies.

“We did note that we have some different positions, and other policy positions aligned,” she said.

“Because we’ve got [group] ticket voting, we have to [preference] someone.

“We’d prefer to abolish group voting tickets.”

‘Snowball’ win from tiny vote possible

WA’s voting system for the Upper House was not designed to be easy for voters.

For people to vote below the line and choose exactly how they want their preferences arranged, they must number every candidate — in some regions, more than 50 — without making any mistakes.

Mr Green said at the 2017 election, more than 95 per cent of votes in all six regions were cast as single ‘1’ votes above the line, meaning those votes were counted according to each party’s lodged group voting tickets, or preferences.

Election analyst Kevin Bonham agreed it was a realistic prospect and said Mr Tadros could win a seat with as little as 0.2 per cent of the vote.

“It’s possible for a party to snowball its way to victory from a very tiny vote share,” he said.

This was due to deals struck between micro parties and the fact the major parties tend to preference each other low on the ticket, Mr Bonham added.

“That doesn’t mean that those parties will necessarily win … but there’s enough to suggest that you might get a few of these micro parties winning off network preference deals in various seats,” he said.

But Mr Green said it was not only the Health Australia Party which would have a shot at landing an Upper House seat due to micro party preference-harvesting deals.

“North Metropolitan region looks very strong for the Liberals for Climate,” he said.

“The party may also have a chance in South Metropolitan due to a favourable ballot paper draw.”

In the East Metropolitan region, former One Nation turned Western Australia Party candidate Charles Smith also has a strong chance of being elected.

“These parties that will get elected have no chance of getting elected … except under a system where there are controlled preferences,” Mr Green said.

“It’s like a lottery with a chance of four years in parliament if you win.

“There’s very little voters can do to stop these parties getting elected.”

Mr Green said minor parties had a chance of being elected in each of the Upper House regions.

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