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Embattled One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts suggested the September 11 terror attack was a hoax in a podcast appearance that has emerged on the eve of the incident’s 25th anniversary, adding to questions about One Nation’s policy and personnel.
Roberts, who has promoted the work of Holocaust deniers and posted tropes about Jewish bankers, said in a 2021 podcast, Don’t Be Deceived, that buildings were “demolished”, echoing a prominent conspiracy theory that the collapse of one of the World Trade Centre buildings was the result of controlled demolitions.
In September last year, Roberts said he “hasn’t done the research on 9/11 at depth” and had questions.
“What caused Building 7 to collapse? How did that collapse?” he said on a podcast hosted by right-wing activist George Mamalis.
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“And George W. Bush was president at the time – he never had a formal deep inquiry into that event. His incoming president replacement Obama never had an inquiry. Why not? They’re pretty fundamental questions for me.”
A three-year investigation by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology found that the 47-storey building collapsed due to uncontrolled fires ignited by debris from the collapse of the nearby North Tower.
Roberts has turned into an ongoing headache for Hanson, who herself questioned the Port Arthur massacre in 2019. Roberts has previously suggested the COVID-19 pandemic was manufactured, praised notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and said it was likely the US was involved in chemtrail testing. Earlier this year, he also did not dismiss, when questioned about a suggestion that the Bondi massacre was a false flag.
In July, Roberts wrote an opinion piece in The Spectator Australia where he rejected claims that he endorsed chemtrail conspiracies, September 11 conspiracy theories or suggestions that the December 2025 Bondi massacre was a “false flag”.
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“Do I subscribe to the chemtrail conspiracy? No. That claim is false,” he wrote. “Do I subscribe to 9-11 conspiracy theories and school shootings? Of course not.”
Hanson had said she would quiz Roberts in early August. Later that month, she said the media overplayed his remarks and launched a firm defence of her long-time Queensland ally.
“I think the media has taken a lot of it out of context as well and without fully looking at what he said. I have the utmost respect for Malcolm Roberts,” she said.
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has been less supportive of Roberts, who some believe might be replaced in the Senate by One Nation strategist James Ashby.
Roberts was contacted for comment.
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The rolling controversy over Roberts has troubled his colleagues in private. Liberal senator Alex Antic is the only MP outside of Hanson who has made a solid defence of Roberts.
Adding to One Nation’s difficulties, this masthead revealed this week that Hanson was paid hundreds of thousands by her party in return for claimed loans. However, there is no evidence that Hanson handed over any money.
“All loans by Senator Hanson have been appropriately recorded,” a party spokesman said in a brief statement.
“Past campaigns have required loans provided by Senator Hanson to bolster federal campaign budgets when banks would not consider lending to the party.”
The party is ascendant in the polls but facing scrutiny over the background of its drug-using Victorian leader Warren Pickering, the previous drug use of its byelection winner in WA, its confused messaging on its migration policy, and its labelling of Liberal MP and former soldier Andrew Hastie as a “traitor” in a cartoon.
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In the 2021 podcast, Roberts claimed John Howard used the terror shock as a pretext to go to war. At one point, Roberts stumbled over the terminology: “What do they call that: the 9/11?”
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor used a speech in parliament to mark the 25th anniversary to praise Howard’s decision-making.
Taylor said Howard was right to invoke the ANZUS agreement “regardless of the shortfalls” of the subsequent wars in the Middle East. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese nodded when Taylor said Howard was correct to invoke the pact.
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Paul Sakkal is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement