The third-party campaigning group is pivoting from attacking the Greens to focus on the ALP. Plus: what to do with a message from ‘Jason’s iPhone’Read more from the Shadow campaignSee all federal election coverageGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe rightwing outfit Advance has been relatively quiet in the pre-campaign campaign, comfortably outspent by green groups and teals on social media and resisting any Clive Palmer-style mass buyout of newspaper ad real estate.That’s set to change.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…The third-party campaigning group is pivoting from attacking the Greens to focus on the ALP. Plus: what to do with a message from ‘Jason’s iPhone’Read more from the Shadow campaignSee all federal election coverageGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe rightwing outfit Advance has been relatively quiet in the pre-campaign campaign, comfortably outspent by green groups and teals on social media and resisting any Clive Palmer-style mass buyout of newspaper ad real estate.That’s set to change.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…
The rightwing outfit Advance has been relatively quiet in the pre-campaign campaign, comfortably outspent by green groups and teals on social media and resisting any Clive Palmer-style mass buyout of newspaper ad real estate.
That’s set to change.
After launching its new anti-Anthony Albanese “weak, woke and sending us broke” campaign, Advance spokesperson Sandra Bourke has told supporters to expect full-page ads across Australia’s “biggest newspapers” in the coming week.
The blitz is conveniently timed to coincide with Jim Chalmers’ budget and potentially the start of the election campaign proper.
The heightened focus on Albanese and Labor marks a subtle shift from Advance, which has been mostly obsessing over the Greens in the 16 months since helping to defeat the voice to parliament referendum.
Bourke’s email revealed the longtime Advance backer, former fund manager Simon Fenwick, has offered to match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $200,000 in March.
Fenwick agreed to a similar donation-matching effort last April, having also contributed $400,000 via his company Silver River Investment Holdings.
In an indication of its growing financial heft, Advance reported $5.2m in donations and other receipts in 2022-23, more than double the amount from the previous financial year.
That included $500,000 from the Liberal party investment vehicle the Cormack Foundation, a donation that ignited claims from the Greens that Advance and the Liberals were in cahoots.
In a February email to supporters, Advance’s executive director, Matthew Sheahan, boasted the group had already raised $7.6m to “smash the Greens”, with a further $2m set aside to target Labor.
Check your spam folder
Elections cost big bucks, and the requests for donations and fundraising help from the major players are getting increasingly … creative.
Or clickbaiting.
Witness a Labor email which dropped into inboxes last week, with the sender listed as “Jason’s iPhone” and the subject line “personal request”.
While it might seem like spam at first glance, it turns out the email was properly authorised by the ALP secretary, Paul Erickson – and the Jason? None other than education minister Clare.
“I’m on the road so I’ll make this quick,” his email went on, asking for a “small donation” to support Labor’s campaign. Clare’s email ended: “Sent from my iPhone”. So authentic!
Other email subject lines aren’t quite as creative but just as clickbaity, often urging supporters to help them meet some kind of “urgent” fundraising target.
“$3”, was all one read earlier in the week. “Not good”, said another. “I had no choice but to send this email,” Labor’s assistant secretary Jen Light wrote to supporters. Not to be outdone, Erickson put his name to another last month with the subject line “I’m not sending everyone this email”.
Advance is doing similar things, with emails calling for “small donations” for urgent campaigns.
“Have you?” asked the subject line of one email to supporters last week. “Let me know tonight?” read another. “Time is running out,” warned a third.
We’re not seeing quite as many from the Liberal party just yet, but we’ll let you know if they start hitting our inboxes.
Lambie in teal’s clothing
We’re keeping a close eye on how parties are spending their marketing money on online and social media ads, and one round of spots from Climate 200 caught our eye – Google, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook ads running quotes from Jacqui Lambie.
A Lambie quote, “what they care about is having power”, ran on the Independent News Facebook page (which, as we’ve reported, is run by Climate 200).
The same ad ran on YouTube and Google, as did one with another headline, “Australians have ‘had enough’ of both major parties”.
Why is Jacqui Lambie being boosted by Climate 200? The Tasmanian independent has her own party, the Jacqui Lambie Network, and as far as we know, she hasn’t taken any Climate 200 money.
Lambie’s office cleared up the confusion. No, they said, she isn’t linked with the pro-climate fundraising vehicle, and she won’t be taking any Climate 200 dollars – instead, her office said, C200 got in touch and asked if she’d mind if they used her quote for some of its ad material.
Climate 200 is running numerous similar ads (as are the major parties) boosting news headlines and quotable quotes that they like, including some from the Guardian, so it’s not entirely out of the blue for them either.
It looks like a mutually beneficial arrangement – Lambie gets free ads for some strong quotes, and Climate 200 gets to link up with the politician ranked as Australia’s most popular in a Nine newspapers poll last year.
Leichhardt still missing
All eyes were on the electorate of Leichhardt, in far north Queensland, at the beginning of this year, when Labor made it clear it wanted to pry the long-held LNP seat out of the opposition’s hands. We understand that message isn’t cutting through as hoped, and that Labor’s hopes of picking up any seats in Queensland are now dwindling (it holds only five out of 30).
The longstanding local member, Warren Entsch, is retiring, and the seat was initially regarded as a possible Labor gain. Anthony Albanese visited in January on a campaign stop, as have other high profile MPs including Tanya Plibersek, Katy Gallagher and Amanda Rishworth.
Entsch largely vacated the campaigning space after the LNP announced Jeremy Neal (who was not Entsch’s preference as his successor) as its candidate, telling the Cairns Post at the time their relationship was “not positive”.
That’s all by the wayside now, and we understand the threat of Labor’s Matt Smith winning the seat has galvanised Entsch into rallying for Neal.
While the seat was Labor’s top pick for the state, they’re a little less hopeful now, but will continue to put in the resources for Smith. A senior source said Labor had not gained as much traction as it hoped at this stage, but was also focusing more heavily on the south-east of the state, including Griffith (which it lost to the Greens in 2022), and Brisbane (which the Greens picked up from the LNP).
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Seen something unusual, alarming or amusing under the surface of the campaign? Email josh.butler@theguardian.com or dan.jervis-bardy@theguardian.com
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