The right-wing lobby group that ran the “No” campaign against the Indigenous Voice was one of the biggest spreaders of fossil fuels propaganda ahead of the federal election, a major study has found.
An Australian Research Council study has found “Advance” injected “highly polarising, misleading claims” about “renewables, nuclear and fossil gas” into the national debate before the May poll.
The lobby group — which falsely claims to be movement of “ordinary Australians” — generated around 193 million digital ad impressions in the four months to election day.
The activity placed Advance “in the same league as the major parties”, the study found.
“Third party advocacy groups with links to fossil fuel interests or right-wing political movements were among the most active spenders on digital advertising in the lead up to the 2025 federal election,” it states.
“Most third-party advertising during the 2025 federal election focused on energy costs, nuclear power and climate action, framing vested interests as ‘ordinary Australians’.”
The study, by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, has been filed as a submission to the Senate inquiry into climate misinformation.
“Most third-party advertising…framed vested interests as ‘ordinary Australians’,” — ARC Study
Advance ran the “No” campaign against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, aggressively spreading disinformation in its fight against the proposal.
As previously reported, despite claiming to be a “grassroots” movement of “ordinary Aussies”, Advance was bankrolled by handful of mega-millionaires, many with deep ties to fossil fuels.
One of the biggest impediments to aggressive fossil fuels expansion globally has been Indigenous rights.
Advance actively spreads pro-fossil fuels lies, including that wind farms kill whales. Source: The Klaxon
The authors of the ARC study analysed the political ad library of Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, between January 1 and the federal election on May 3.
It also installed software on the phones of 106 participants, located in key electorates, to track political advertisements over the two weeks to election day.
The study found fossil fuels-backed misinformation was rampant.
“Astroturfing” — where vested interests create fronts and pretend to be genuine community movements — was widespread, and being used as a “systemic strategy” by “mainstream political and corporate players”.
“Campaigns designed to appear grassroots are in fact coordinated, well-financed, and often linked to major political parties, donors, or lobby groups,” it states.
In the four months to election day, Advance ran 4,443 paid Meta ads, spending between $1 million and $1.6m, “generating around 193 million impressions”.
That was almost one third of the digital impressions of each of the ALP and the Coalition.
“This level of activity placed Advance in the same league as the major parties, despite not being a registered political party,” the study states.
“Advance is ‘combining high-volume culture war advertising with persistent anti-renewables and anti-climate organic messaging’,” — ARC Study
It found vested interests were “exploiting the precision targeting and scale” of platforms like Facebook and Instagram to “inject contrarian messaging directly into the policy debate at moments of peak public attention”.
The super-elite who bankrolled the anti-Voice campaign. Source: The Klaxon
The study’s authors said “urgent reforms” were necessary, with the activity “warping” public discussion around climate at a “critical” time.
“Astroturfing in climate and energy debates is not the work of fringe actors,” the report states.
“It is a systemic strategy of mainstream political and corporate players.
“Without urgent reforms in transparency, disclosure, and truth-in-advertising, these practices will continue to warp Australia’s climate and energy policy debates at a time when evidence-based decision making is most critical.”
“Without urgent reforms…these practices will continue to warp Australia’s climate and energy policy debates” — ARC study
Advance used both paid advertisements and organic (unpaid) social media posts ahead of the May federal election.
More from The Klaxon on Advance:
Jan 15 – Anti-Voice group spreading “whale death” lies
Apr 28 – “Advance” spread ANZAC-eve division
Apr 24 – “Advance” in Indigenous attack rant
July 12 – Jillian Segal and husband funding far-right group “Advance”
June 25 – Howard oversaw $500,000 to “Advance”
Most of Advance’s ads focused on “broader culture war issues” and personal attacks on political opponents, but its organic activity “consistently pushes strongly against net-zero targets and amplifies climate contrarian arguments”, the study states.
“By combining high-volume culture war advertising with persistent anti-renewables and anti-climate organic messaging, Advance is attempting to influence the wider public sphere in ways that rival party campaigns, while evading the same levels of scrutiny and accountability.”
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Matthew Sheahan speaks at a CPAC event in October last year. Picture: Anthony Klan/The Klaxon
Other “notable third parties” included “Australians for Prosperity”; “Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance” and “Nuclear for Australia”.
“Australians for Prosperity” was framed as “community advocacy” but in fact “functioned as a vehicle for fossil-fuel-aligned messaging”, the study found.
Likewise, Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance “positioned its anti-renewables and pro-fossil fuel arguments” as “taxpayer advocacy”.
“The groups…inject highly polarising, misleading claims about renewables, nuclear, and fossil gas into the national debate” — ARC study
Advance aggressively spreads fossil fuels propaganda while falsely claiming to be a movement of “ordinary Australians”. Source: The Klaxon
The four vested interests groups were exploiting digital platform advertising, which was a “key mechanism” for “amplifying climate change contrarian narratives”, enabling “well-funded advocacy groups to reach millions of Australians at relatively low cost”.
“Elections and major policy debates serve as flashpoints for these campaigns worldwide, where targeted ads can frame renewables as unreliable, fossil gas as essential, or nuclear as inevitable, often through misleading or decontextualised claims,” the study found.
“By exploiting the precision targeting and scale of platforms like Facebook and Instagram, these groups can inject contrarian messaging directly into the policy debate at moments of peak public attention, shaping narratives in ways disproportionate to their apparent grassroots presence and with minimal accountability or meaningful disclosure of funding sources.”
“The dominant themes of their advertising were opposition to renewables, defence of fossil gas, and promotion of nuclear power” — ARC study
Advance spent by far the most, at between $1m and $1.6m, followed by Australians for Prosperity (between $220,000 and $290,000) and Australian Taxpayer’s Alliance (between $206,000 and $265,000).
“In each case, the level of spend and reach was vastly disproportionate to the groups’ apparent community standing, with some having negligible organic followings outside of paid campaigns,” the study states.
“In each case, the level of spend and reach was vastly disproportionate to the groups’ apparent community standing” — ARC study
“What is striking is not only the scale of expenditure but the systematic targeting of climate and energy issues.
“Even where pages framed themselves more broadly, around families, affordability, cost of living, the dominant themes of their advertising were opposition to renewables, defence of fossil gas, and promotion of nuclear power”.
“What is striking is not only the scale of expenditure but the systematic targeting of climate and energy issues” — ARC study
The concentration of astroturfing activity on climate and energy policy was “particularly significant”.
“Campaigns frequently framed themselves as defending households from rising bills, or as giving parents, workers, or farmers a voice,” the study found.
“Yet behind this messaging were partisan agendas designed to attack the policies of rival parties, or corporate strategies aimed at shaping public opinion on energy transition in ways favourable to industry interests”.
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Anthony Klan
Editor, The Klaxon
