Liberal Party-funded billboards spruiking fossil fuels propaganda have been taken down by the nation’s largest outdoor advertising group.
Last week ASX-listed advertising giant oOh!Media pulled two Newcastle billboards containing lies attacking renewable energy by extremist disinformation group “Advance”.
The billboards make the demonstrably false claim that ‘renewables’ (which the advertisements refer to in quotation marks) “cost the earth”, followed by the words “dollars & destruction”.
The Liberal Party and “Advance” have for years denied they are connected, yet two weeks ago it emerged the Liberal Party is Advance’s biggest funder — and by a factor of ten.
Spokesman for oOh!media Tim Addington told The Klaxon Friday that it had hosted two of the advertisements — both as “classic billboards”, and both in the “Newcastle area” — but that it had taken them down.
Days earlier a picture of one the billboards had been posted to social media, drawing fierce criticism from advertising and climate professionals.
“Thanks for bringing this to our attention,” oOh!media responded.
“While we have robust procedures in place to review sensitive advertising content, following an additional internal review…oOh! has now removed this advertisement”.
The company said it was looking into whether it had run the advertisement anywhere else, and on Friday confirmed to The Klaxon there was one other — also on a billboard and near Newcastle — which it had also since removed.
Yet whether the moves represent an permanent shift by oOh!media away from spreading disinformation is yet to be seen, after it was revealed that at least one of the two removed billboards had already run for its full contract period.
The Klaxon visited the site of the billboard last month. Photo: Anthony Klan/The Klaxon
Advance, which aggressively spreads pro-fossil fuels and anti-environment disinformation, formed the “No” campaign against the Indigenous Voice to parliament.
It falsely claimed to be a “grassroots movement” of “ordinary Aussies” but was in fact bankrolled by a handful of mega-millionaires — many with deep ties to fossil fuels.
Internationally, one of the biggest impediments to continuing fossil fuels expansion has been Indigenous rights.
Advance, which uses US-style disinformation tactics to systemically attack the ALP, Independents and Greens, has long claimed it is not connected to the Liberal Party.
Yet Australian Electoral Commission data released on February 3 shows Advance’s biggest funder last financial year was Cormack Foundation Pty Ltd — the Liberal Party’s central slush fund.
Cormack Foundation “donated” a massive $500,000 to Advance in 2023-24, which was ten times more than the next biggest donor, who donated $50,000.
Advance claims climate change is a “hoax” and aggressively spreads disinformation attacking Independents, the ALP and Greens, paying to “micro target” voters via social media.
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Anti-Indigenous Voice group Advance spreading disinformation about offshore wind “killing whales”. Source: Dr Jeremy Walker/Advance
The Albanese Government, which was swept to power in 2022 on a platform of “accountability” and “transparency”, refused to implement truth in political advertising laws.
That means political parties, unlike companies selling services or products, can openly lie to the public in their advertising material, often using taxpayer funds to do so.
As reported by The Klaxon last month, Cormack Foundation Pty Ltd is a shell company registered to a home in Melbourne’s Brighton.
In 2018 the ALP rigged Victoria’s election “donation” laws vastly in favour of the ALP and Coalition, hogtying Independents.
In 2018 in Victoria, the then ALP Government capped political “donations” at $4500 — but it simultaneously wrote loopholes into the law allowing limitless “donations” to the ALP, Liberal and National parties.
The loopholes mean the three majors — but no one else — can be funnelled limitless cash for election purposes via three obscure private companies.
Under the law, the Liberal Party can be funnelled limitless payments via Cormack Foundation Pty Ltd.
On Wednesday night the ALP and Coalition executed a secret deal, rigging “donations” laws at the federal level, vastly favouring the ALP and Coalition and hogtying Independents.
Support for the ALP and Coalition, in long-term decline, is at its lower point on record, with one in three Australians voting for someone else at the 2022 federal election.
The super-elite who bankrolled the anti-Voice campaign. Source: The Klaxon
The ALP, Liberal and National parties are all paid large “donations” from the coal and gas sector.
Experts say this has resulted in “state capture” of the major parties — and so the Australian Government — by the fossil fuels sector, much of it foreign owned.
The biggest threat to the vast political influence of the fossil fuels sector comes from the ALP and Coalition losing seats in parliament to community-backed Independents, Greens and others.
“Two weeks ago it emerged that the Liberal Party is Advance’s biggest funder”
It has repeatedly been caught running political advertisements falsely claiming independents are secretly from the Greens Party.
“The Liberal Party’s Cormack Foundation “donated” $500,000 to Advance — ten times more than the next biggest donor”
On Monday last week, February 10, advertising executive Mike Spirkovski posted to LinkedIn a photo of one of the billboards, in Tarrow, just north of Newcastle.
“To say I was taken aback when I saw this billboard is an understatement,” wrote Spirkovski.
“This billboard, which criticises the environmental impact of renewables, stands in a massive construction site spanning floodplains and farmlands in Tarro, NSW.
“This is part of the M1 freeway extension, a project that has required extensive land clearing. The irony is hard to miss.
“Adding to that irony, this site is not far from the Hunter Valley, one of NSW’s major coal mining regions. Large-scale open-cut coal mining in places like Singleton, Muswellbrook, and the Upper Hunter has significantly impacted farms and local ecosystems,” he wrote.
The billboard is set against cranes and major power lines carrying coal-generated power. Photo: Anthony Klan/The Klaxon
Spirkovski’s post drew strong criticism of oOh!media, including from a string of advertising professionals.
The following day, February 11, Spirkovski posted to LinkedIn that the billboard appeared to have been removed.
“oOh! acted to remove the campaign following a LinkedIn post and in line with our sustainability commitments,” Guardian Australia reported Friday.
Yet the publication also reported claims the billboard had been paid for by Advance up until February 9 — the day before Spirkovski’s LinkedIn post.
That was not denied by oOh!media.
The Klaxon visited the Tarrow billboard last month as part of an ongoing, in-depth investigation into anti-renewables disinformation.
In response to Spirkovski’s post, oOh!media early last week said it was looking into whether it had run the Advance ad elsewhere.
On Friday oOh!media told The Klaxon that it had run the ad on one other billboard, also in the “Newcastle area”, which it had also taken down.
In his original LinkedIn post, Spirkovski wrote:
“For full context, and after some research in tracking down the campaign, this billboard appears to be part of a broader campaign questioning the perceived economic and environmental costs of renewable energy, likely targeting the proposed Newcastle offshore wind project.
“More to come on this, I’m sure of it!” he wrote.
More to come…
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