EXCLUSIVE
The Liberal Party gave more money to anti-Welcome to Country hate group “Advance” last financial year than the Federal Government spent on the Indigenous ceremonies over its entire three-year term.
Advance is running a campaign of lies and disinformation against the Welcome to Country, including that “its purpose is to make you feel unwelcome in your own country”.
“The government spends hundreds of thousands of YOUR taxpayer dollars on these elite and activist-led ceremonies that divide us by race,” it states. (Emphasis Advance’s).
“The government spends hundreds of thousands of YOUR taxpayer dollars on these elite and activist-led ceremonies” — Advance
In its attack material, Advance repeatedly cites its “spokesperson”, Liberal Senator Jacinta Price, stating that the Federal Government is spending “$450,000 a term” on the ceremonies.
“I don’t believe that we should be spending $450,000 a term on Welcome to Country, when that isn’t actually improving the life of a marginalised Indigenous Australia,” Price is quoted in an April 16 Advance attack email.
“Its purpose is to make you feel unwelcome in your own country” — Advance
Yet investigations show the Liberal Party gave $500,000 to Advance last financial year — more than the Federal Government spent on Welcome to Country ceremonies across the nation over three years.
The $500,000 payment, via Liberal Party Victoria electoral slush fund the Cormack Foundation, made the Liberal Party Advance’s biggest funder last financial year by a factor of 10.
That payment represented just over 40% of the $1.2 million Advanced reported receiving in the year from disclosed donors, Australian Electoral Commission records show.
In all, Advance declared receiving $15.7m, although only those donors giving over $16,300 were required to be identified.
Liberal Party vehicle “Cormack Foundation” was overwhelmingly the biggest funder of Advance last financial year. Source: AEC; Image top: Opposition leader Peter Dutton. Source ABC News/Ian Cutmore
Advance is a US, “MAGA” style disinformation outfit, that pushes the interests of the Coalition by aggressively spreading disinformation and attacking the ALP, Greens and Independents.
It clinically spreads hate-filled, highly divisive missives — while accusing others of being “divisive”.
The attacks on the Welcome to Country by Advance and the Liberal Party — its major funder — appear to be tightly-coordinated.
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In an email to tens of thousands of Australians on April 16, Advance executive director Matthew Sheehan lied and said the Welcome to Country “tells people” they are “unwelcome in their own country”.
It is “divisive” and “damaging”, writes Sheehan, in the divisive, hate filled mass email.
The “Welcome to Country” is part of a secretive plan by “elites” to “delegitimise Australia’s history”, he states.
“It’s about delegitimising your place in the country” — Advance
“It’s about delegitimising your place in the country, your hard work, your family’s history, the sacrifice and the blood, sweat and tears that went into building Australia”.
The Klaxon’s report last week. Source: The Klaxon
According to Sheahan, “left-wing bureaucrats, activists and elites” are “spending big sums of your money on their ceremonies” when “real mainstream Australians are struggling”.
He provided no evidence to support the claims.
The following week — last Thursday night — Advance sent out another mass email. In it, as revealed by The Klaxon yesterday, Advance “spokeswoman” Sandra Bourke sowed division over ANZAC Day.
Hours later, at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance dawn service, the Welcome to Country was booed by a highly vocal group of people, including a prominent Neo-Nazi.
Later that day, in a shock move, NRL’s Melbourne Storm cancelled its Welcome to Country ceremony Friday afternoon, just hours before it was to be performed at a match with South Sydney Rabbitohs.
The Klaxon’s report Sunday. Source: The Klaxon
As revealed by The Klaxon Sunday, Storm director and co-owner Brett Ralph was Advance’s second biggest funder last financial year — behind the Liberal Party.
Ralph has given at least $275,000 to Advance since it was created in 2018, AEC records show. Ralph and Storm chairman Matthew Tripp have repeatedly refused to respond to written questions from The Klaxon this week.
On Sunday Opposition leader Peter Dutton attacked the Welcome to Country, stating it was “overdone”. On Monday he declared the ceremonies should be “reserved for significant events of our country” — but not ANZAC Day.
“Anzac Day is about our veterans … I think the majority view would be that they don’t want it on that day,” Dutton said.
Advance posts to Facebook on Anzac Day Source: Facebook
Advance was the peak “No” group against the Indigenous Voice to parliament and has repeatedly claimed victory for the collapse in public support for the Voice and its failure.
The group said it was opposed to the Voice because the proposal was “divisive”.
Yet after the Voice was defeated, Advance declared Australia was “now” comprised of an “us” versus “them”.
Advance operates as the Liberal Party’s disinformation arm, running US-style division campaigns which claim Australia is comprised of an “US versus THEM”. Source: Advance
It ran highly divisive campaign against the Voice, riddled with lies and disinformation, including a full-page racist advertisement in the Australian Financial Review.
Racism has been a central feature of Advance’s campaigning, and at the Federal Dunkley by-election last year ran ads of splattered blood and hoodie wearing “immigrants”.
An Advance attack ad ahead of last year’s Dunkley by-election. Source: Twitter/X
On Friday, after the interruptions of the dawn service Welcome to Country, Advance posted to social media that “ANZAC Day is not the time for a Welcome to Country”.
On its website, Advance states the Welcome to Country “achieves nothing”, is “expensive”, and is an “attack” on “Australia’s history and its values”.
“The taxpayer-funded Welcome to Country is unfair, un-Australian and unwanted,” states the US-style disinformation group.
“The taxpayer-funded Welcome to Country is unfair, un-Australian and unwanted” — Advance
“Its purpose is to make you feel unwelcome in your own country”.
“Worse yet YOU’RE paying for it,” states the Liberal Party-funded Advance. (Emphasis Advance’s).
“Worse yet YOU’RE paying for it” – Advance
“What started as a simple gesture has turned into a full-blown activist-led push to attack Australia’s history and its values,” Advance states.
Like Advance’s attack emails, the site provides nothing to support any of the claims.
Advance attacks the Welcome to Country with lies and disinformation on its website. Source: Advance
Scores of murky, highly-similar Facebook groups — with hidden owners — have sprouted and are aggressively spreading disinformation, in an almost identical styles to Advance.
The groups use ocker style language, but posts appear clinically, professionally – and similarly –written.
Common themes are racism, claims that Australia is comprised of an “us” and a “them” — and relentlessly attacks on the “ALP”, “Greens” and “Independents”.
One of the Facebook groups, called “Aussies Eye on Australia”, on Saturday posted a doctored image of the Melbourne Storm Logo, with the words “no more Welcome to Country on our watch”.
“It only takes a few to push back to gain momentum.” it states.
An “Aussies Eye on Australia” post on Saturday. Source: Facebook
Last Thursday, “Aussies Eye on Australia” posted calling for “volunteers” for Advance.
“Ok legends, we have a small ask,” the site posted.
“We need volunteers ASAP to support Advance Australia in getting people to actually make their vote count.
“We need volunteers ASAP to support Advance Australia” – Aussies Eye on Australia Facebook group
“Are you Patriotic about your country, do you care about what is going to happen if Labor, and the Greens form an alliance”.
The post provides a link to “direct message Advance”.
“Or you can PM [personal message] our page if you wish to remain anonymous,” it states.
Like many of the group’s posts, it finishes with the hashtags “Greens Last”, “Teals Second Last” and “Labor Third Last”.
The “Aussies Eye on Australia” Facebook group calls for Advance volunteers. Source: Facebook
In December The Saturday Paper revealed the Liberal Party had hired online disinformation campaign group Topham Guerin to help it in its federal election campaign.
The New Zealand-based company, known for aggressive disinformation tactics, including the use of deepfakes, was credited with playing a central role in the Coalition’s 2019 victory under Scott Morrison.
The disinformation campaign group was also used by the Liberal National Party in Queensland ahead of its election win last year, and by New Zealand’s right-wing National Party, which won that nation’s 2023 federal election.
Dutton and the Liberal Party have repeatedly refused to respond when contacted by The Klaxon regarding the Liberal Party’s ties to, and funding of, Advance.
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Thank you,
Anthony Klan
Editor, The Klaxon
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