Fund manager Geoff Wilson, a prominent critic of the Albanese government's tax policies, has deleted an inflammatory AI-generated video he reposted from a rightwing nationalist account. The video portrayed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers taking money from white Australians and giving it to recently arrived migrants wearing Islamic face coverings.
Wilson's response and deletion
Wilson said he had not watched the full video before sharing it and deleted his posts after being contacted by Guardian Australia. “Once the inappropriate associations were identified, I immediately removed the two posts,” he said. The video included AI-generated imagery of a protest with signs reading “diversity is not our strength” and “treason”, as well as a white family becoming homeless and a south Asian family moving into their house.
Other controversial posts
Wilson also reposted content related to the QAnon conspiracy theory and from accounts sharing anti-immigration material. “We have only just begun. We will stop this insane CGT on all Australians businesses!” he wrote alongside the AI video. Another post included a video referencing QAnon: “And just like that, everyone who laughed at us, suddenly believes in Q.”
Wilson's background and tax criticism
Wilson, founder and chair of Wilson Asset Management, is a well-known investment manager often quoted by media. He has called Labor's negative gearing and capital gains tax changes “economic vandalism” and an “aspiration tax”. He also opposed Labor's 2019 franking credits reforms and 2025 changes to taxing unrealised superannuation gains. Senior Coalition figures have promoted his views.
Content of the AI video
The AI video depicted Albanese and Chalmers taking money from homeless white Australians and handing it to people with dark skin and Islamic-style coverings. It showed crowds of south Asian and Middle Eastern appearance rushing across an airport tarmac, ending with an angry protest crowd holding signs including “diversity is not our strength”, “treason” and “no world order”. The clip was reposted from an account with bio “Nationalist” and “White Lives Matter”, which previously posted Holocaust denial.
Wilson's statement
Wilson said he “shared material without fully checking all of its sources and content”. He added, “I posted the content as part of our campaign against the government's damaging CGT changes to Australian businesses. The focus was to clearly articulate the campaign against this illogical new tax on Australian businesses has just begun. I unequivocally reject racism, antisemitism and conspiracy theories of any kind. The focus remains fully on opposing these insane tax changes that will clearly harm the Australian economy, aspiration, investment, small business and economic growth.” He has since deleted the AI video and QAnon reference.
Albanese's response
Prime Minister Albanese has previously rejected Wilson's criticisms, saying he “has been a political participant for some period of time … Geoff Wilson has opposed everything my government has done.”
