Caloola Farm protesters claim missing money and group factions are in the past

The self-appointed head of finance for the anti-vaccination mandate group packed the car and his 13 year-old son, Phenix, and made the 13 hour trip from Springbrook a fortnight ago.

The pair are now part of the close to 100 people who have set up camp at Caloola Farm near Tharwa, a 170-hectare property about 45 minutes from Canberra city.

Mr Cole has come under fire from members of the movement since they were forcibly removed from Exhibition Park, with questions raised over the disappearance of thousands of donated dollars.

At the camp on Wednesday, Mr Cole claimed a donation tin passed around EPIC would collect thousands of dollars each day.

"Our biggest day was probably $11,000 or $12,000, other days were $8000, I think we one day was about $4000," he said.

"When these buckets came back into the finance department, there was multiple people there to watch the count. We are beyond reproach.

"But we were spending it as quickly as it came in."

The "head of the finance department" said money was used to pay for lights, toilets, food and fuel.

He said Canberra businesses made it very difficult by refusing to trade with them. He believes out of fear of risking government contracts.

According to Mr Cole, the trouble started when a faction of the group got wind they would not be allowed at Caloola.

"They said, ''We're gonna buy land', and people get hooked up in the excitement," he said.

"Money was thrust into a cardboard box left, right and centre.

"That money never made it back to the finance department."

Mr Cole claims the finance department has kept every receipt and has scrupulously documented donations.

Although, he cannot say how much money has been raised so far.

Some members of the protest group claim to have donated thousands to Camp Freedom, seemingly unaware of the looming deadline of an eviction.

"We're going to make it inscrutable so that individual people can see exactly what's in our account and what we spent it on, so we can clear this thing up," he said.

"We are now creating a national unified organisation of all those individual groups and we're not going to invite that group that offered to buy the land.

"It was a ridiculous idea."

Mimi Grace had less far to travel from her home in NSW to join the protest movement early on.

She said those at the new camp are not the conspiracy theorists or the extremists who dominated the microphone during the protests.

"As with everything in society, you will have renegades and you will have those who want to be diplomatic about it. We are the ones trying to be diplomatic about it," she said.

"Ultimately, these people are political refugees, they've been ripped away from their work and their families, due to the fact that they will not adhere to a mandate that is corrupting."

"They are more than happy to go back to their work.

"We've got mothers and children that would love to have their kids in school, but they have to make a stand against the things that are breaking down our society's way of processing their own freedoms and accountability."

Despite claiming the conspiracy theorists have gone home, both Ms Grace and Mr Cole are unshaking in their belief that the federal government fired radiation from vehicles at EPIC.

The idea circulated widely among protesters has been used to explain symptoms which are unequivocally symptoms of bad sunburn. The belief remains that police vehicles at EPIC, used to convey the eviction message on Sunday and Monday, caused burns, dehydration, dizziness and blisters.

Mr Cole said there was no question it happened.

"We can show you people here with their lips burnt," he said. "The government attacked our people on that day."

Caloola Farm property leaser Ralph Hurst-Meyers claims a medical team at the property will use the fragility of protesters as a way to negotiate with ACT government for approval to stay longer.

Mr Hurst-Meyers said up to 100 protesters have been approved to seek refuge at the camp for two weeks.

ACT government has issued a warning he will be fined should he continue to breach his leasing agreement.

"For now, we're bringing in the people with the intention of them getting together the resources to get home.

"Some people have come from as far away as Western Australia, so that requires resources and planning and logistics. It's not our intention for this to be an ongoing thing.

Mr Hurst-Meyers says he did not take part in any of the rallies and is a proudly vaccinated Canberran.

"I'm actually losing money.

"I'm getting artillery shell from everybody and it's only because I want to help the elderly, single mothers, families with children and the disabled.

"The bottom line is, somebody has to represent what Australians truly stand for."

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