The Sydney Morning Herald
· collected 2026-10-12 · by Cameron Atfield
Glen Morris, who runs Glen’s Espresso in Brisbane, made a light-hearted joke about One Nation party on his cafe's blackboard after learning they were relocating nearby. Within hours, One Nation supporters launched an online attack, leaving negative reviews and abusive messages to harm the business. The incident was noticed by Google, which removed the false reviews within 24 hours. Political scientist Paul Williams noted that such online mob attacks are increasingly common in Australian politics, particularly from right-wing groups.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-12,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.50, but 1 quote(s) could not be found in the article and the other 1 are attributed speech rather than the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 73342: no verified evidence · logged 2026-10-12
Very early every morning, Glen Morris picks up some chalk and updates the blackboard that has given his Spring Hill cafe an air of social media notoriety.
asserted
that → pick → notoriety
Last Thursday, it was a light-hearted message to Glen’s Espresso’s new Wharf Street neighbours.
“I’m not sure if One Nation have done their due diligence putting their head office 3 doors down from my blackboard,” Morris wrote in response to news One Nation was relocating to a nearby building owned by the party’s billionaire backer, Gina Rinehart.
asserted
Nation → ’m → backer
As Morris went on with his day, one of his new One Nation neighbours took a photograph of the blackboard.
asserted
one → go → blackboard
“Oh, we did [due diligence],” the party said in the caption.
asserted
party → do → caption
“We’re very lucky to be surrounded by a number of cafes serving delicious coffee (yours included).
asserted
yours → ’re → coffee
We will always support small businesses, regardless of the owners’ politics.”
asserted
We → support → politics
What happened next was a sustained campaign of review-bombing, phone calls and abuse from One Nation supporters.
“We started noticing within that hour-and-a-half period that we were getting one-star reviews on our Facebook and Google profiles from people who’d never been to the coffee shop and were intent on maligning the shop in ways that would ruin the business if the reviews were upheld,” Morris said.
asserted
Morris → happen → business
“We were fortunate enough that our ratings on both Facebook and Google were running at a flat five stars, which is nice, but all it takes is a dozen or so one-star reviews to go up and suddenly your rating sucks and you look terrible.
asserted
you → run → stars
“So it was a definite and deliberate attempt by their followers to ruin someone’s livelihood, based on what I perceived to be a fairly innocuous joke that wasn’t in any way harmful.”
asserted
that → ruin → way
Luckily for Morris, whose business has a reputation for irreverence, the review-bombing was noticed by Google and the reviews from the 24-hour period were wiped.
But in the moment, Morris said, he was furious to have his business dragged through the mud so he contacted One Nation with screenshots of the reviews, with no response.
asserted
he → have → response
“They captioned [their post] in a way that wasn’t antagonistic, but it also didn’t make it clear that it’s actually all tongue-in-cheek, that I’d been making coffee for them all week and we were actually getting on fine,” Morris said.
asserted
Morris → caption → them
“One Nation demands tolerance for their own opinions, but refuses to extend that right to their critics.”
asserted
Nation → demand → critics
One Nation, which has previously cited a boycott of this masthead over its reporting of the party, did not respond to requests for comment.
asserted
which → cite → comment
Griffith University political scientist Paul Williams said online mobs were becoming more prevalent, particularly in the “hard-right” of Australian politics.
asserted
mobs → say → politics
“It’s like there’s now an army of barrackers that we’ve not really seen before, whose mission seems to be destroying any hint of progressive thought,” he said.
asserted
he → ’ → thought
“And if that means taking down a business, well, it’s a case of whatever it takes.”
asserted
it → mean → whatever
Williams said there was an irony in One Nation supporters engaging in a form of cancel culture, something leader Pauline Hanson described in 2021 as “killing debate, freedom of speech, and shutting down conservative political representation”.
asserted
Hanson → say → representation
He said it appeared her party had no issues when it came to shutting down progressive speech.
asserted
it → say → speech
“In the hard-right, rationality doesn’t have to make sense,” he said.
asserted
he → have → sense
For the record, Morris said he welcomed One Nation workers and volunteers to Glen’s Espresso.
asserted
he → say → Espresso
“The people I’ve been serving for a week or so will read the blackboard and then look up and [say to me] ‘Oh well, actually, I’m a volunteer down there’, and they’re all lovely – these are people who I’m getting on with absolutely fine,” he said.
asserted
he → serve → who
“The people I’ve told about the dramas have been very apologetic and said that’s not their intention and not what they want to do – but it’s all well and good for individuals to be pleasant to deal with, but sicking the mob on a small business doesn’t compute with that.”
asserted
sicking → tell → that
It was not the first time Morris’s blackboard has stirred up political trouble.
asserted
blackboard → stir → trouble
During the 2014 G20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane, Morris got wind that then-South African president Jacob Zuma was staying in a hotel near the original Glen’s Espresso coffee cart in Ann Street.
asserted
Zuma → get → Street
Morris decided to reference historical rape allegations levelled against Zuma – of which he was acquitted in 2006 – on his blackboard.
asserted
he → decide → blackboard
“His security detail came down and had a bit of a conversation about what my intentions were,” he said.
asserted
he → come → conversation
“You have fun with it, but I’m not out to hurt or offend people unless they desperately deserve it.”
asserted
they → have → it
The Aporia
