Who's behind the Safe School videos? The concerned mums' political connections
Marijke Rancie peers intently into the camera and calls on Victorian parents to "get really angry".
Her outrage is directed at Safe Schools, a program the Melbourne mother claims is trying to "erase gender", expose children to dildos in the classroom, and teach them how to masturbate using household items.
"I kid you not, the rumours about this program are 100 per cent true – this program sexualises children!" Rancie declares, in a 14-minute video that has so far been viewed online more than 4 million times.
"Safe Schools is teaching your children anal sex and anal sex positions. It's teaching them STIs like it's no big deal. The concept is hyper, hyper-sexual. I'm not OK with that. This is grooming."
Rancie's claims have been disputed by the Victorian Education Department but if clicks are anything to go by, there's no doubt her video has struck a chord since it was uploaded on her Facebook page "Politicalpostingmamma", and later on an anti-Safe Schools website called You're Teaching Our Children What.
But why does this supposedly parent-driven website have the same server and registrar as the Australian Christian Lobby? Why has there been a sudden resurgence in campaigning activity against Safe Schools in recent months: from travelling roadshows and viral posts, to angry letters to principals and politicians?
And should Rancie have disclosed on the video that she's a Liberal Party member, part of growing network of so-called "mumma warriors" who are waging what critics claim is essentially a right-wing political war dressed up as a "grassroots" movement?
In the corridors of power at Spring Street, in the suburban branches of Liberal heartland, and in the meeting rooms of the party's Exhibition Street headquarters, a stoush over the party's internal culture has been brewing for months.
At its centre is Marcus Bastiaan, the charismatic 27-year-old who who has made it his mission to re-energise the Liberals' conservative base through a membership drive targeting everyone from Mormons and Evangelical Christians to Probus and ethnic community groups. Safe Schools, according to one Bastiaan ally, has been "a good recruitment tool".
Rancie, a born again Mormon, signed up to the party 17 months ago, one of many recent converts to the Liberal cause. Joining her on the new frontline are several others with links to the party or the religious right. This includes teacher Moira Deeming, a former Liberal candidate; former councillor Christine Stow, who recently ran a Safe Schools "information session"; and Melbourne mother Cella White, whose story about pulling her son out of Frankston High School in protest of Safe Schools has been heavily promoted by the ACL.
Another Liberal member, Vikki Fitzgerald, was also behind a leaflet distributed in Education Minister James Merlino's electorate in May, purporting to be from a group of concerned constituents, going by the name of the Parents Speaking Out Group.
Facebook posts show a number of the women campaigning in Melbourne's east for federal MP Michael Sukkar, a staunch conservative who recently headlined an anti-Safe Schools forum for the Chinese community at the Liberal Party's head office.
The event, also attended by state president Michael Kroger, was advertised in Chinese media groups, and included a flyer falsely claiming that Safe Schools "educates children by teaching them to act like homosexuals and bisexuals, so that they will conform to new age ideas of gender".
This session was just one of many. Another recently took place at the Cranbourne Golf Club, featuring right-wing upper house MP Inga Peulich as a key speaker. A similar forum was held in late June at the Bendigo Baptist Church, attended by Bastiaan, his pro-life wife Stephanie, and conservative physician Ivan Stratov.
Stratov used his keynote speech to lash Safe Schools, as well as abortion, euthanasia, and marriage equality. The Bastiaans used the event to garner support for the party more broadly.
In a statement to Fairfax Media, Rancie says she had never been interested in joining a political party "until Safe Schools invaded my kids", and that she posted her video "out of sheer frustration" because no one seemed to know what it was really about.
"[It's] a Trojan horse for transgender activism and gender theory and not really an anti-bullying program at all," she says. "The feedback has been incredibly supportive, apart from a few activists who are childless and seem to have a clear agenda."
But others say the latest campaign isn't just politically motivated and filled with homophobic falsehoods, it's also doing "untold damage" to LGBTI children and their families, already reeling from the federal debate over marriage equality.
"We are really hurting," said Jo Hirst, the mother of a transgender child and the author of the children's book The Gender Fairy.
"The voices of these groups are loud and insistent, but what they say is factually incorrect. I understand that the parents of Australia have a lot of voting power. But when you know 50 per cent of transgender children will attempt suicide if not supported, can you ethically justify spreading misinformation? Is a vote worth a child's life?"