Australian election 2025: The Coalition is being outspent 80-1 on internet election advertising

On the internet, the election campaign has already begun. Over the past month some $4 million has been spent on election advertising on Facebook and Instagram.

From warnings about global warming to appeals to Australian patriotism, millions of ads are sliding into voters’ social media feeds each day in a desperate attempt to shape their opinions.

In this battle for influence, the Coalition is being outspent, badly. Public data made available by Facebook’s parent company, Meta, shows the opposition has spent less than $50,000 on digital ads over the past month.

The federal government, union movement, climate activists and Labor Party - in that order - have made much bigger online bets early in the campaign.

The hesitancy suggests the Liberal and National parties are waiting for the prime minister to set the date before unleashing a barrage of online advertising. The Liberal Party is broadcasting television ads, including 30-second version of one that explains leader Peter Dutton’s background.

Paid by government, for government

Political advertising is not known for its integrity, but even at this stage one campaign already stands out for its cynicism.

Launched on December 18, the Australian Council of Trade Unions is running three advertisements promoting the Albanese Government’s workplace law changes.

Not only are the ads misleading, they are paid for from an annual grant from the Department of Employment and Workplace Places to promote “constructive social dialogue”.

That’s right. The government is giving money to unions to promote government policy, just before an election.

“Workers in Australia now have new rights and protections,” the ads say, and refer people to an ACTU website which asks for their name and email address.

Casuals and contractors

The three ads are for changes that many public policy experts did not believe would be good for the economy: annual leave and sick pay for casuals, and outlawing many types of contract work.

Contrary to the ads’ assertion, the policies are not new. They were introduced into the Fair Work Act last February after months of tough negotiations in the Senate.

The ACTU does not accept they are an abuse of public money. “This communication advises workers in a factual way about workplace changes that could affect them,” a spokeswoman said Friday.

The three ads’ budget to appear on Facebook and Instagram is about the same as the Liberals’ total ad spending over the past month.

Truth and lies

Each ad has appeared on a computer or phone screen more than a million times. The viewers are mostly under 34, a group more likely to be susceptible to a separate ACTU campaign alleging a Coalition government would reverse those and other workplace laws, and cut superannuation payments.

Some of the assertions are true. Others are misleading. A few are dishonest. The Coalition has promised to review the contracting law, change the definition of casual employment, and repeal the new contracting rules, which make it harder for the gig-economy to operate.

But it has ruled out cutting compulsory superannuation payments by employers to 9 per cent from 12 per cent, which another ACTU ad claims is Coalition policy.

“The Liberals want to con you out of $165,000 of your own retirement money,” says the one-minute ad, which has appeared around 250,000 times.

The Coalition’s spokesman for Financial Services, Luke Howarth, affirmed there would be no change as recently as a week-and-a-half ago.

Higher taxes?

Similarly untrue assertions are probably inevitable from the Coalition’s side, but almost all its online ads promote individual candidates and cast no assertions on their opponents.

One exception first appeared on January 15. Shown about 200,000 times, it attacks Zoe Daniel, an Melbourne independent MP funded by Simon Holmes à Court’s Climate 200 fundraising vehicle, which has even outspent the taxpayer-funded union movement over the past month.

“Teals MPs want higher taxes, including on investment and housing,” the ad says.

While Daniel would like the tax system changed, like most experts, she said last week taxes should not go up overall.

Daniel and other “teal” MPs have called for truth to become a legal requirement for political ads.

But neither of the major political parties is interested in the idea because it would require a public official to police them.