Climate 200 takes a leaf out of Advance Australia’s playbook

Businessman and political benefactor Simon Holmes à Court’s Climate 200 group has been revealed as the second-biggest spender on political advertising on Meta in the lead-up to the federal election, with ads for independent candidates on one of its news-branded Facebook pages costing tens of thousands of dollars.

The Facebook page, called “Independent News”, was created on December 3, 2024, and as of the morning of March 3 had 216 likes. The page itself is the 17th biggest spender on Australian political advertising on Meta in the 30 days leading up to February 27. Backed by Climate 200, the page spent $68,221 on 664 ads, which is more ads than the Australian Labor Party and WA Labor combined, despite the WA election looming on March 8.

The page, which has only posted 20 times since it was created, largely reshares news coverage of articles in favour of climate change-focused independent candidates, with the most recent post being a link to a Crikey article titled “Forget Teal, try Orange Peel: Is 2025 the year of the regional independent?”.  

On February 14, it shared an analysis piece by the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas with the social title “We’re watching the demise of the two-party system in real time”. 

Climate 200, which backed teal candidates in the last federal election and will do so again in 2025, spent $268,179 in its own name on Meta advertising in the same 30-day period.

The approach of running social media pages full of election advertising but branded as “news” is not an unfamiliar one. Well-heeled right-wing group Advance Australia was responsible for “Election News”, created on May 1, 2023, ahead of the Voice referendum. The page, largely resharing news material critical of the Greens and Labor, has spent $201,075 of Advance Australia funds on Meta ads. Both “Independent News” and “Election News” carry authorisations in their page descriptions, as all electoral communication is required in Australia. 

Crikey contacted Holmes à Court to ask whether the “Independent News” page was inspired by Advance Australia’s strategy, and whether he thought it misleading to brand a political advertising page as a news page, despite the authorisations. He did not respond in time for publication. 

Data from Meta’s political advertising spend tracker shows Climate 200 spent more than any political party on Meta advertising in the month leading up to February 27 on ads. Of any advertiser on Meta in Australia, it was second for spending on social issues, elections and politics to the Australian government, which spent $368,064 on 132 ads. 

Predictably, with the WA election looming, Roger Cook and WA Labor came in third with $150,007 on ads, while the ALP spent $125,702 on ads. 

Teals dominated political spending otherwise, with Climate 200-backed candidates Nicolette Boele in Bradfield, Ben Smith in Flinders and incumbent Monique Ryan in Kooyong spending a combined $302,828 on ads. 

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