Advance has become a force on the far right, a lavishly resourced team of partisan political warriors, focused on destroying progressive opponents.
In August 2023, amid the gloomy downlights and stain-disguising carpet of Sydney’s Star Casino, some of Australia’s biggest and boldest conservative thinkers gathered at CPAC Australia to save the free world. A spin-off of the US-based Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the Sydney-based outfit described itself as a “values-based” organisation that “espouses the best of Howard, Reagan and Thatcher while exploring new ideas and themes for the coming generations.” Guests at the August event included One Nation senator Pauline Hanson, Michelle Pearse, the CEO of the Australian Christian Lobby, and broadcaster Alan Jones, who has faced allegations of sexual misconduct. Overseas talent included Jay Aeba, chairman of the Japanese Conservative Union, and Heather Wilson, co-founder of GiveSendGo, a Christian crowdfunding network that has raised money for neo-Nazis and anti-vaxxers.
Despite the promise of “new ideas,” the conference’s themes were derived almost exclusively from intellectual and cultural prehistory, inevitably returning, in some form or another, to the neoliberal Holy Trinity of smaller government, lower taxes, and property rights. The only concession to the 21st century was the word “woke,” which the attendees seemed to have only just discovered and which copped a predictable flogging. Events like these are sponsored by wealthy benefactors, but their animating forces are ego and grievance.
One speaker stood out for his humility. Matthew Sheahan, the executive director of a right-wing organisation called Advance, described his group as an “independent grassroots movement, not affiliated or connected to any political party.” His mission, he said, was to fight for principles and policies that promote freedom, security, and prosperity, putting the interests of everyday Australians “front and centre of the national debate.”
Since its launch in 2018, Advance has built a sophisticated campaign infrastructure comprising communications strategists, digital platforms, and field operations, supported by a supporter base of some 275,000 people, including 23,000 ordinary Australians giving grassroots contributions. However, there has been criticism of Sheahan's claims. Advance’s leadership has largely been composed of former Liberal Party operatives and retired Liberal Party MPs. Just months after Sheahan's speech, the group received $500,000 from the Cormack Foundation, an investment fund established by the Liberal Party of Victoria, and had Tony Abbott, a former Liberal prime minister, as a member of its advisory board.
Sheahan’s description of Advance as a grassroots movement is further undermined by the fact that much of its funding comes from a handful of wealthy individuals, including winemakers, investment bankers, and at least one billionaire coal baron. Despite this, Advance has become a formidable force on the far right, focusing on attacking progressive opponents, whether they be Labor, the Greens, teals, moderate Liberals, left-leaning academics, the ABC, or climate-change activists. The group’s tactics, including satirical superheroes and racist attack ads, are often derided as stunts, yet they serve to amplify the organisation’s energy and ambition.
Sheahan stated, “The media tend to think we are some fringe group, and that suits us just fine. We are happy to go underestimated.” This sentiment reflects a broader strategy that seems committed to returning to mainstream values and a Judeo-Christian consensus, distancing itself from contemporary progressive movements.
Advance was formed in 2018 by Maurice Newman, Sam Kennard, and David Adler, with early financial support from hedge fund manager Simon Fenwick, who contributed $190,000, and Rodney and Judith O’Neil, who added $400,000. Initially, Advance struggled to gain traction, with early initiatives such as scrapping compulsory superannuation and protecting franking credits failing to resonate.
The group’s fortunes changed with the approach of the 2019 federal election, where they produced short videos featuring a bright orange mascot called Captain GetUp! However, the campaign was poorly conceived, leading to the withdrawal of a clip featuring Captain GetUp! humping a poster of independent Zali Steggall, who ultimately won against Tony Abbott.
In 2020, Advance was caught targeting primary-school children with classroom resources designed to counter what it called the “climate-change hoax,” prompting bans from New South Wales and criticism from Victoria’s then education minister James Merlino, who stated that most principals would “put this rubbish where it belongs – in the bin.” By early 2022, the group had taken on strategic advisories from Dunham + Company and Whitestone Strategic, but their tactics remained largely unchanged.
In the 2022 federal election, Advance relied on stunts again, notably using billboard trucks that depicted David Pocock as an undercover Greens candidate. The Australian Electoral Commission ruled that Advance had to stop using these misleading advertisements, which were criticized for being both deceptive and ineffective.
However, the group found its footing in 2023 with the campaign against the Voice to Parliament, which aimed to give First Nations peoples a constitutionally enshrined body to advise the Australian Parliament on matters affecting them. While the Liberal Party criticized the Voice as legally risky, Advance unleashed a barrage of disinformation campaigns, launching multiple contradictory initiatives across seven social media channels.
These campaigns included The Voice Is Not Enough, claiming the Voice would be powerless, and Fair Australia, which argued it went too far and was run by radical activists. Advance also produced a handbook titled One Together, not Two Divided, warning that the Voice would divide Australians by race, and Christians for Equality, which claimed the Voice would “embed Indigenous spirituality” in the constitution.
As the vote approached, Advance’s phone campaigners reached out to thousands of households, suggesting that the organisers behind the Voice wanted to abolish Australia Day. Their website stated that the referendum was merely the first step, followed by a treaty that would redistribute land, money, and power to Indigenous activists, a change to the Australian flag and national anthem, and the removal of every statue of Captain James Cook.
To further confuse voters, Advance ran Referendum News, a supposedly neutral online news source that exclusively published negative content about the Voice. Ed Coper, a digital communications expert, noted that Advance essentially copied the MAGA model, flooding the zone with disinformation.
Advance’s third-party status allowed it extraordinary latitude in its messaging, which became increasingly racist. Co-founder David Adler questioned the Aboriginality of Yes advocate Stan Grant, suggesting he had artificially darkened his skin. The group also ran a controversial advertisement in The Australian Financial Review depicting Indigenous man Thomas Mayo, a prominent “Yes” campaigner, in a derogatory light.
Ultimately, the No vote prevailed in the referendum, marking a significant moment for Australian democracy. Coper remarked, “We’ve never seen a disinformation campaign on that scale in Australia.” This marked a shift in the political landscape, with Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce stating, “There’s a new type of politics in Australia, and it’s a little bit Trumpian.”
Advance is part of a larger ecosystem of neoliberal think tanks, linked to the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, which has been accused of climate denialism and promoting fossil fuel interests. Despite claims to independence, Advance’s founding members have deep ties to the Institute of Public Affairs and the Centre for Independent Studies, both part of the Atlas network.
From 2018 to 2024, Advance collected over $30 million, with significant contributions from wealthy individuals connected to fossil fuels and mining. Investigative journalist Anthony Klan noted that most of Advance’s declared donations have come from a small number of extremely wealthy individuals, raising concerns about the authenticity of its grassroots claims.
In July 2024, Advance launched their Greens Truth campaign, asserting that “The Greens are not who they used to be.” They have spent as much as $221,000 a week on advertising, targeting various political opponents, including Labor and the teals. Their strategies include geo-targeting voters and employing emotional messaging to sway opinions.
As Advance continues to influence Australian politics, their tactics raise questions about the integrity of political discourse and the role of money in shaping public opinion.
