An anti-lockdown activist has managed to make $50,000 a day while being held in custody on remand after refusing to sign off on her own release on bail.
An anti-lockdown activist appears to have made $50,000 a day sitting in a cell on remand after refusing to sign off on her own release on bail.
Reality TV wannabe turned anti-vaxxer and activist Monica Smit was successful in a bail application last week but in a spectacular twist she refused to sign an undertaking to follow the strict conditions.
The 33-year-old from Pakenham has been charged with two counts of incitement and three counts of breaching the chief health officer’s directions.
She is alleged to have encouraged people to attend illegal protests held in Melbourne on August 11 and August 21 during Victoria’s sixth lockdown by authoring and transmitting posts on the encrypted Telegram app.
Shortly after Ms Smit refused to sign her release document, her partner Morgan Jonas – also an anti-lockdown activist and vocal critic of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews – launched a crowd fundraiser for her legal defence.
The crowd funding web page states that all money raised would be used to fight the charges.
Her parents, John and Lise, claim their daughter is a “political prisoner”, while Ms Smit said, in a message through her lawyers, that she “would rather be in prison, with no rights, then (sic) willingly sign them away”.
The crowd sourcing campaign showed it had raised $247,000 in just five days despite some of Ms Smit’s legal team working pro-Bono.
“Monica has an excellent legal team who offered their services pro-Bono for the services provided to date, but we are now asking for support from the Australian people to help cover the costs of the coming fees and prepare us to face the fight ahead,” a post on her website says.
The website says she is prepared to take her fight to the Supreme or High courts.
The bail conditions set by magistrate Luisa Bazzani barred Ms Smit from publishing anything that could incite further breaches of the health orders.
Ms Smit was also ordered to follow a court-imposed curfew between 7pm and 6am and remove any material that incited opposition to the health officer’s directions within 48 hours.
Ms Smit remains in custody with her next court appearance scheduled on November 10.
Originally published as How anti-vax leader Monica Smit made $50k a day in custody
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