After Charlie Kirk was assassinated in the US, a small mental health charity based in Melbourne was alarmed to find itself the target of people outraged at commentary about his death.
The phone calls and messages began after the organisation’s contact details were shared, including by the Australian senator Ralph Babet, who posted the charity’s phone number, email address and website on his social media.
Babet identified the charity, VMIAC, as the potential workplace of Grace*, who was accused of celebrating Kirk’s death.
The senator – who had separately written on his social media “we are at war” in the wake of Kirk’s death – urged his followers to contact the organisation and push for Grace to be sacked. Parts of his post were published in a Daily Mail article.
Grace had left the charity a year ago. Still, the angry messages flooded in.
“There have been thousands,” said Vrinda Edan, the chief executive of VMIAC. “Some of the voicemails, in particular, were highly distressing.”
Babet made a number of posts about people
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