In the first of a series highlighting online strategy, social media wars and podcast forays in the federal election campaign, we look at a disturbing Liberal TikTok and Labor’s optimistic merch. Plus: who are the ‘Liberals for Independents’?The Liberal party’s strategy on TikTok is a bit more zoomer-friendly than Labor’s approach: think trending memes and audio, rather than politicians talking into the camera for 90 seconds at a time. We’ve previously brought you the mind-boggling pro-nuclear campaign from the Minerals Council, masterminded by the Liberals’ preferred online campaign group, Topham Guerin.But one video from the Liberals’ main page caught our eye, and not just because of a closeup of the feet. Check out the toes. Continue reading…In the first of a series highlighting online strategy, social media wars and podcast forays in the federal election campaign, we look at a disturbing Liberal TikTok and Labor’s optimistic merch. Plus: who are the ‘Liberals for Independents’?The Liberal party’s strategy on TikTok is a bit more zoomer-friendly than Labor’s approach: think trending memes and audio, rather than politicians talking into the camera for 90 seconds at a time. We’ve previously brought you the mind-boggling pro-nuclear campaign from the Minerals Council, masterminded by the Liberals’ preferred online campaign group, Topham Guerin.But one video from the Liberals’ main page caught our eye, and not just because of a closeup of the feet. Check out the toes. Continue reading…
The Liberal party’s strategy on TikTok is a bit more zoomer-friendly than Labor’s approach: think trending memes and audio, rather than politicians talking into the camera for 90 seconds at a time. We’ve previously brought you the mind-boggling pro-nuclear campaign from the Minerals Council, masterminded by the Liberals’ preferred online campaign group, Topham Guerin.
But one video from the Liberals’ main page caught our eye, and not just because of a closeup of the feet. Check out the toes.
There are six of them.
As anyone who’s been on the internet lately knows, videos with the wrong number of fingers or toes are a pretty obvious sign of AI-generated content.
It’s unclear who was behind this effort, but in 2024 Topham Guerin posted on LinkedIn about its work in having “led the digital advertising efforts during the LNP’s recent victory in Queensland”, including “video dominance in political advertising” and “embracing AI technology”. The company said “AI tools enabled the LNP to produce over half of these videos rapidly, allowing the LNP to easily speak to local issues in many marginal seats”.
Are we not Liberals?
Staying with the Liberals … or at least, a page branded that way.
Climate 200 has a new Facebook page, and there’s not a shade of teal in sight.
As we’ve reported recently, the major parties and campaigners are setting up multiple Facebook pages with different names and imagery but no party branding, in an apparent bid to promote specific campaign messages targeting particular demographics and electorates.
Climate 200, the pro-environment fundraising vehicle behind the teal wave that crashed through Liberal heartland in 2022, has set up its own “Independent News” page.
Another recently launched page is “Liberals for Independents”, with a tagline stating: “Supporting the growing independent movement in Australia for better local leadership.”
The page carries an authorisation from Climate 200 and executive director Byron Fay, but its branding is in the dark blue usually associated with the Liberals, and it has been promoting paid ads critical of the opposition.
“I’ve always been a Liberal voter. Nothing about this appeals to me any more. Independents are community focussed,” one ad reads. Another says: “The Liberal Party that I have been supporting for the last 25 years is not the Liberal Party that it is today.”
According to Meta’s ad library tool, the page has spent about $3,600 on Facebook ads in the past week, relatively small change compared with Labor’s $36,700 or the $43,700 spent by the main Climate 200 Facebook page. But one to watch.
Green message
As the campaign proper nears, pro-environment pages are proving the biggest spenders on Meta platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram.
Energy for Australia and Solutions for Climate Australia – both linked to environmentalist Barry Traill – spent a combined $101,350 pushing anti-nuclear, pro-climate messages into users’ feeds in the past week alone.
To put that into perspective, the biggest political-related advertiser in the period – the federal government – forked out just over $63,090.
Teal independents Monique Ryan ($36,290) and Kate Chaney ($30,990) and aspiring teal Nicolette Boele ($29,510) were also on the list of top-20 spenders, promoting ads attacking the major party deal to overhaul electoral laws.
Newly minted
Election season comes with demands for fundraising through any means possible. It’s always interesting to see what political merch our MPs sell to their fans (Pauline Hanson’s branded rum is a real highlight), so Labor’s recent launch of a new line of goodies for Auspol tragics caught our eye.
Alongside some “Albo 2025” (not quite as snappy as Kevin 07) shirts, tote bags and tea towels, Labor is offering a pack of “Albo 2025” breath mints in a little collectible tin.
“Albo 2025 mint tin, containing 30g of chewy mints,” Labor’s online shop hawks, offering one tin for $10 or three for $20 – not a bad deal in these cozzy livs times.
In the interests of fairness, we’ve also checked out the Liberal party’s shop – but it seems someone has forgotten to update the website, which still spruiks “2022 Liberal Party shirt” in its most prominent spot.
There’s also a 2022 poster with the “It won’t be easy under Albanese” slogan, a Liberal party beach towel and a “cleaning up Labor’s mess” tea towel, for those so inclined.
People first, but also whales
Peter Dutton’s path to victory seems to blaze directly through outer suburban and regional seats previously regarded as Labor heartland. In the Hunter and Illawarra regions he has drawn some raised eyebrows in recent months with his newfound concern for whale migration patterns as a reason to oppose offshore windfarms.
The NSW Liberals can smell blood in those Labor seats, if their latest ad campaign promising to stop the windfarm zones is anything to judge by. “We’ll put the people of Port Stephens first,” reads one ad, featuring a beaming photo of Dutton. Other ads promise they will also put the people of the Illawarra, south coast and Shortland first.