Tania de Jong delves into mushrooms, musicals and fans in the form of the UAP

Tania de Jong sure does contain multitudes. At the moment, she’s preparing for the return of Driftwood The Musical to Melbourne theatres in May. De Jong stars, produces and co-pens the lyrics for the popular show, based on the memoir of her mother Eva de Jong-Duldig.

You may also recognise de Jong’s name from the prolific media releases of Mind Medicine Australia, an organisation co-founded by de Jong that advocates for “the development of safe and effective psychedelic-assisted therapies to cure a range of mental illnesses”.

What we didn’t know until this week is that she’s also got fans in the form of the United Australia Party. We got an email from the UAP spruiking not only Clive Palmer’s upcoming appearance on bellicose fact checker and sought-after stand-up Paul Murray’s Sky News show, but Driftwood‘s upcoming run “starring UAP member Tania de Jong AM”.

Since we first published that line, Tania de Jong has got in touch with us to make clear she’s not a member of the UAP, nor any political party but that she “worked for Clive as a paid performer for some of his events and he was kind enough to promote the musical.” de Jong told Crikey “I have always been completely apolitical and have performed for virtually every political party for some of their various special events.” Tania emphasised that “I have a deep commitment to creating a more inclusive, compassionate and caring community. I contribute the majority of my time to creating and supporting charitable causes to alleviate the immense suffering in the community. All of my charities are about bringing people together, not dividing them.”

Driftwood covers “the epic lives of two Holocaust survivors and their groundbreaking accomplishments”. We wonder if any of the friends the UAP made during their committed anti-lockdown and vaccine sceptic campaigning will be able to make it to the show.

Clarification: this story first repeated the United Australia Party’s claims that Tania de Jong is a member of the party. Tania de Jong has told Crikey she’s not a member, the story has been amended accordingly.