Advance (lobby group)

Advance, stylised as ADVANCE and formerly known as Advance Australia, is a conservative political lobbying group launched in 2018 to counter the left-wing activist group GetUp.[2][3]

Advance
Formation2018 (2018)
PurposeConservative Political Campaigning
HeadquartersBrisbane[1]
Membership
44,000 (self-claimed)
Website

Structure and funding
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The national director of Advance Australia was Gerard Benedet, a former Liberal Party staffer who led the organisation during the 2019 Australian federal election.[4] Benedet stood down in September 2019, and was replaced by Liz Storer, former City of Gosnells councillor,[5][6] and advisor to Liberal senator Zed Seselja.[7]

High-profile backers include businessmen such as Maurice Newman, Kennards Self Storage managing director Sam Kennard, and Australian Jewish Association president David Adler.[3][4] Other members of the advisory council include security specialist Sean Jacobs and journalist Kerry Wakefield.[8] Queensland businessman James Power is also said to have been involved.[9]

In its first four months, Advance Australia raised $395,000 and signed up 27,500 members.[4] By May 2019, it had raised $1.7 million, according to Benedet.[10] It raises money through donations on its website.[11] Benedet says the membership is 60 per cent male and has an average age of about 50.[1]

Advance Australia has been accused of astroturfing and being little more than a front for the Liberal Party.[12] Advance Australia's independence has yet to be tested by the electoral commission in the same manner as similar lobby groups have.[13]

As of May 2023 the group had been renamed simply "Advance".[2]

Policies

The group says it opposes left-wing activists who it says are trying to change the Australian way of life. It decries radicalism and political correctness, and says, "Mainstream values have been the bedrock of Australia's growth as a western liberal democracy".[14] It promotes family values, free markets, meritocracy, business, a Judeo-Christian heritage, a strong defence force and national borders.[15][16][17][18][19][20] The group believes that anthropogenic climate change is a "hoax",[7] with current national director Liz Storer describing the teaching of the predominant scientific view as "the other side of the story being shoved down their throats. It's already happening. The left have infiltrated our education systems. Any aware parent knows that their child is being taught the left's ideology."[7]

Campaigns

Climate campaigns

Advance Australia's national director Liz Storer vowed upon her appointment in September 2019 to target the "militant advance of climate activism" and in particular, the protest group Extinction Rebellion, whom she described as "criminals who pose a menace to society".[21]

In 2020, Advance Australia commenced a campaign aimed at children with an e-book titled "10 climate facts to expose the climate change hoax". They claim that a "consensus" goes against the "scientific method" and that there are many recognised scientists who do not agree that human generation of CO
2 is the "control knob" of climate. The group are seeking to have their material distributed in classrooms. However the New South Wales Department of Education has stated it would not allow Advance Australia's in schools as they are not objective and would be in violation of the Controversial Issues in Schools policy. The Victorian Education Minister James Merlino has described the book as "rubbish", adding "this organisation is a front for a group of ill-informed climate change deniers".[7]

Online petitions

The earliest campaigns of Advance Australia were online petitions to:

  • keep Australia Day on January 26 to mark the anniversary of the First Fleet's arrival[22]
  • oppose plans by the Labor Party to scrap dividend imputation tax refunds for retirees with superannuation[23]
  • oppose targets set by the Labor Party to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.[24]

Ongoing campaigns of Advance Australia are online petitions to:

2019 federal election

During the 2019 federal election campaign:

  • costumed characters named Captain GetUp and Freddie Foreign Money appeared in electorates where GetUp was trying to unseat Liberals who had been key supporters of a leadership challenge by Peter Dutton[26][27]
  • a documentary-style series was launched on social media attacking GetUp.[28]

2022 federal election

During the 2022 federal election campaign:

2022–2023: Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Advance has set up campaigns to oppose the Voice to Parliament,[34] encouraging voters to vote No in the 2023 referendum on the matter. Its campaigns include a new social media advertising campaign titled "The Voice is Not Enough" (or just "Not Enough"),[35] aimed at a young demographic and targeting the "progressive no" vote, suggesting that the Voice would be too weak, or is not the main priority for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. As part of this campaign, they have misrepresented the views of some Indigenous people and used others' photos without their permission.[36] It has also created a "Referendum News" Facebook page,[37] which shows only anti-Voice posts, and by May 2023 the group had spent thousands of dollars on Facebook and Instagram ads.[38]

In July 2023, a cartoon ad run by Advance Australia in the Australian Financial Review, featuring caricatures of Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo, MP and Yes advocate Kate Chaney, and her father businessman Michael Chaney, led to bipartisan condemnation of the ad as "racist".[39] The AFR later apologised for the ad.[40][41]

Reception

The group has received a considerable amount of criticism in the Australian media. In 2018, Crikey's Bernard Keane said that the idea of a "right-wing" GetUp! had been attempted many times with little success, and described Advance Australia's public backers as "a clutch of angry men" who were unlikely to succeed in their venture.[42] In September 2020, Kishor Napier-Raman wrote in Crikey that the group was "fading into irrelevance" despite injections of funding from wealthy donors, while noting that despite their stated goal of providing a conservative counterweight to GetUp!, "Advance Australia are still playing catch up to GetUp when it comes to membership numbers, financial muscle, and sheer relevance".[43]

References
  1. Seo, Bo (23 April 2019). "GetUp and Advance Australia go head-to-head". Australian Financial Review. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  2. Wilson, Cam (22 May 2023). "Anti-Voice 'news' Facebook page is run by the No camp, but you wouldn't know it". Crikey. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  3. McGhee, Ashlynne (21 November 2018). "What is Advance Australia, the new conservative lobby group taking on Get Up!". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  4. Koslowski, Max (16 March 2019). "Meet Gerard Benedet, the man who could save conservatives - or take them down with him". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  5. Loussikian, Kylar; Hutchinson, Samantha (12 September 2019). "Benedet bows out of Advance Australia". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  6. "Former Gosnells Councillor takes over as head of advanced Australia". Out In Perth. 16 October 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  7. Koziol, Michael (15 February 2020). "We want to see balance right wing activists target primary school children on climate". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  8. "Advisory Council". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  9. MacCallum, Mungo (26 November 2018). "Advance Australia – where?". The Monthly. Morry Schwartz. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  10. Katherine Gregory (10 May 2019). "Proxy War: the outsiders campaigning for the major parties". Radio National Breakfast (Podcast). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Event occurs at 3:01. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  11. George and Paul (24 November 2018). "Gerard Benedet". 2GB (Podcast). Macquarie Media. Event occurs at 06:34. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  12. Katherine Gregory (10 May 2019). "Proxy War: the outsiders campaigning for the major parties". Radio National Breakfast (Podcast). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Event occurs at 3:43. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  13. Koziol, Michael (18 February 2019). "Win for GetUp! as Electoral Commission rules it's not formally linked to Labor or the Greens". The Age. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  14. "(Home page)". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  15. "Our Beliefs". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  16. "Protecting Personal Freedoms". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  17. "Fighting Political Correctness". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  18. "Restoring a Fair Go & Family Values". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  19. "Ensuring a Safe and Secure Nation". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  20. "Creating Economic Opportunity". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  21. Benson, Simon (16 October 2019). "Conservative alliance targets climate army". The Australian. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  22. "Save Australia Day". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  23. "Sign the petition today to support hard working retirees and tell politicians - Hands off our super!". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  24. "Australians can't afford Labor's Supercharged Carbon Tax". Advance Australia. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  25. "Front and Centre".
  26. Maley, Jacqueline (17 April 2019). "Conservative lobby group makes police complaint of death threat against "unmasked" Captain GetUp". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  27. Koslowski, Max (13 March 2019). "Advance Australia, the conservative GetUp!, comes to Tony Abbott's rescue". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 7 May 2019. ... It will focus on the seats of Dickson, Deakin, Boothby and Warringah, held respectively by Peter Dutton, Michael Sukkar, Nicolle Flint and Mr Abbott ... Advance Australia will also campaign in Indi, the regional Victorian seat which is wide open following independent Cathy McGowan's decision to retire.
  28. Davidson, Helen (1 May 2019). "Campaign lurches to wilder shores: GetUp as gateway drug to a global socialist agenda". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  29. "Behind the lobby group authorising the "CCP says vote Labor" ads that are causing a stir". Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  30. "Right-wing group warned over anti-Labor ads with Xi Jinping". 16 March 2022.
  31. "Mark McGowan condemns "morons" for displaying ads outside his home linking Labor with China". The Guardian. 6 April 2022.
  32. Independent ACT Senate candidate David Pocock lodges complaint over "false" election corflutes, Isaac Nowroozi, ABC News Online, 27 April 2022
  33. "AEC Statement: Advance Australia signage". Australian Electoral Commission. 16 May 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  34. "Sign this open letter to tell Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton".
  35. "The Voice is not enough: vote now". Facebook. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  36. Campbell, David (2 June 2023). "No campaign accused of misrepresenting First Nations commentators in youth-targeted advertisements". ABC News (Australia). Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  37. "Referendum News". Facebook. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  38. Wilson, Cam (22 May 2023). "Anti-Voice 'news' Facebook page is run by the No camp, but you wouldn't know it". Crikey. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  39. Worthington, Brett (6 July 2023). "No campaign advertisement dubbed 'personal and racist attack' on Voice Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo". ABC News. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  40. Butler, Josh (6 July 2023). "AFR apologises for running voice no campaign ad featuring 'racist trope'". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  41. Wedesweiler, Madeleine (6 July 2023). "Australian newspaper apologises over 'racist' ad from No campaign". SBS News. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  42. Keane, Bernard (20 November 2018). "Another 'right-wing GetUp'? Join the crowd". Crikey. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  43. Napier-Raman, Kishor (15 September 2020). "Why $1 million may not be enough to advance Advance Australia's cause". Crikey. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
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