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Barnaby Joyce claims One Nation ‘one of the gayest parties in Australia’ as former candidate’s comments surface

The Guardian · 🇬🇧 public United Kingdom · · 531 words · By Sarah Basford Canales
LGBTQ+ Rights and Political Discourse Political Party Vetting
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What to know about LGBTQ+ Rights and Political Discourse

Barnaby Joyce has defended One Nation as “one of the gayest parties in Australia” after comments surfaced from one of its failed candidates describing same-sex attraction as a mental illness.

Claims checked 7
Techniques found 1
Topics 2

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left17%
Center66%
Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Barnaby Joyce has defended One Nation as “one of the gayest parties in Australia” after comments surfaced from one of its failed candidates describing same-sex attraction as a mental illness.

Why it matters

The former National turned One Nation MP was asked to respond to a series of homophobic comments made by a former Western Australian legislative council candidate for One Nation in a video last month, as first reported by ABC on Wednesday afternoon.

Common ground

Parminder Singh, who was third on the party’s ticket at the WA election in 2025, told online personality Jasky Singh, known as Mr Sikkant, that he believed gay people have a mental illness and that marriage equality should not have been legalised.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/12/barnaby-joyce-one-nation-…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 7 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4
verified Verified By Reference 2
info Single Source 1
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Claim 1: “One Nation’s South Australian MP James Virgo is gay.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm that Jason Virgo (referred to as James Virgo in the claim) is a One Nation MP for South Australia who confirmed he is gay during his maiden speech. Note: The evidence identifies him as 'Jason', while the claim says 'James', but the context and role match perfectly.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 South Australian House of Assembly election was held on 21 March 2026 to elect all 47 members of the South Australian House of Assembly as part of the 2026 South Australian state election.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_South_Australian_House_of…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A state election was held on 21 March 2026 to elect the members of the 56th Parliament of South Australia. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly (lower house) were up for election, along with 11 of th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_South_Australian_state_el…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON), commonly known as One Nation (ON), is a right-wing to far-right political party in Australia. It is led by its founder Pauline Hanson, who is the party's president …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Nation
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 2: “Parminder Singh... told online personality Jasky Singh, known as Mr Sikkant, that he believed gay people have a mental illness and that marriage equality should not have been legalised.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that Parminder Singh told Jasky Singh (Mr Sikkant) that homosexuality is a 'mental illness' and expressed opposition to marriage equality.
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web search NEUTRAL — The comments came from Parminder Singh, who is number three on One Nation WA’s Legislative Council ticket. The clip was posted by Perth comedian and content creator Jasky Singh, better known as “Mr Si…
https://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/one-nation-candidate-br…
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web search NEUTRAL — Speaking on Perth comedian Jasky Singh’s Mr Sikkant podcast, he claimed Pride parades encourage young people to identify as gay, said people are not born gay, and opposed both same-sex parenting and m…
https://www.dnamagazine.com.au/one-nation-candidate-parminde…
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web search NEUTRAL — Parminder Singh appeared third on the One Nation ticket for the WA Legislative Council at the 2025 state election, but made headlines this week after making several homophobic comments in an interview…
https://www.theage.com.au/national/western-australia/former-…
verified
Claim 3: “Almost two-thirds of the nearly 80% of Australians who took part in the 2017 postal survey voted in support of marriage equality.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists only of dictionary definitions for 'approximately' and general Wikipedia entries about Australian demographics; there is no data regarding the 2017 postal survey results.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrat…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Australians
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Asian Australians are Australians of Asian ancestry, including naturalised Australians who are immigrants from various regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants. At the 2021 census, the propo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Australians
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — German Australians (German: Deutsch-Australier) are Australians of German ancestry. They constitute one of the largest ancestry groups in Australia, and German is the fifth most identified European an…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Australians
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 4: “Parminder Singh, who was third on the party’s ticket at the WA election in 2025”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web search results explicitly state that Parminder Singh was third on One Nation's ticket for the WA Legislative Council at the 2025 state election.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Batwara 1947 (transl. Partition 1947) is a 2026 Indian Hindi-language period drama film co-written and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, and produced by Aamir Khan under the banner of Aamir Khan Producti…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batwara_1947
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Jaswant Singh Gill (22 November 1939 – 26 November 2019) was an Indian engineer at Coal India known for his efforts in rescuing 65 coal miners trapped in a flooded mine in Raniganj, West Bengal, in 19…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaswant_Singh_Gill
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sikhs (Gurmukhi: ਸਿੱਖ, romanized: Sikkh, Punjabi pronunciation: [sɪkkʰ]) are followers of Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhs
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 5: “One Nation was forced to dump one of its candidates, Aoi Baxter, ahead of the South Australian state election after the ABC revealed a warrant for his arrest had been issued in the UK for allegedly sexually touching a woman in 2024 without consent.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent sources confirm that One Nation dumped candidate Aoi Baxter after the ABC revealed a UK arrest warrant for alleged non-consensual sexual touching.
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web search NEUTRAL — A state election was held on 21 March 2026 to elect the members of the 56th Parliament of South Australia. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly were up for election, along with 11 of the 22 seats in …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_South_Australian_state_el…
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web search NEUTRAL — Former South Australian One Nation candidate, Aoi Baxter, has been dumped by the rightwing party, after media reports claiming there is a warrant for his arrest in the UK.A UK court confirmed to the A…
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/21/one-n…
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web search NEUTRAL — One Nation dumps Adelaide candidate on election eve after UK arrest warrant revealed. Aoi Baxter removed from ticket after failing to disclose outstanding sexual assault charge in Britain.
https://www.bushletter.com/one-nation-dumps-adelaide-candida…
verified
Claim 6: “Barnaby Joyce has defended One Nation as “one of the gayest parties in Australia””
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence contains biographical information about Barnaby Joyce and One Nation, but no source mentions him describing the party as 'one of the gayest parties in Australia'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce (born 17 April 1967) is an Australian politician who served as the deputy prime minister of Australia and the leader of the National Party from 2016 to 2018 and from 2021 t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnaby_Joyce
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON), commonly known as One Nation (ON), is a right-wing to far-right political party in Australia. It is led by its founder Pauline Hanson, who is the party's president …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Nation
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — One Nation New South Wales is the New South Wales branch of One Nation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Nation_New_South_Wales
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 7: “One Nation readies its candidates ahead of the Victorian state election in November.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The search results provided for this claim are irrelevant, referring to a shipping company (ONE), an Israeli sports site, and Microsoft OneDrive, rather than the political party One Nation.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Mar 24, 2026 · As a leading global container shipping company, ONE offers tailored cargo shipping solutions. Explore our vast network of vessels and ports, ensuring global connectivity.
https://www.one-line.com/en
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web search NEUTRAL — ONE - אתר הספורט המוביל בישראל: חדשות ספורט, תוצאות LIVE, סטטיסטיקות, וידאו וסיקור מלא של כדורגל, כדורסל וספורט בישראל ובעולם. עדכונים בזמן אמת.
https://www.one.co.il/
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web search NEUTRAL — No account? Create one!
https://onedrive.live.com/login/en-us/
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.