Wealthy benefactors keep pumping cash into the right-wing group, even as it sinks further into obscurity.
With millions of dollars flowing in from some of the country’s wealthiest people, the so-called right-wing antidote to GetUp should be one of the most powerful forces in politics. Yet the fledgling Advance Australia group is still mired in obscurity.
Figures released this week show just how much its supporters are trying to turn the organisation into an effective vanguard against left-wing activism.
Despite having gained almost no public profile since it was set up in 2018 (unless you count its weird Captain GetUp misfire during the last election), Advance Australia was the second biggest spender on political campaigns in the 2019-20 financial year after the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). It spent $1.5 million on campaigns to “save free speech” and keep Australia Day on January 26.
