Monique Ryan and Allegra Spender spend more than $150,000 on Google and Meta ads

Teal independents Monique Ryan and Allegra Spender are two of the top spenders on online political advertisements in Australia’s parliament, as their offices splashed tens of thousands of dollars into promotion on Google and Meta.

Climate 200, the major financial backer of parliament’s seven teal independents including Ryan and Spender, also spent more than the federal government or any other political group in the past three months.

Big social media spenders: Teal MPs Allegra Spender (left) and Monique Ryan.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The major parties, lobby groups, unions and individual MPs have together spent millions on Meta and Google ads as campaigning gathers pace for a federal election due to be held on or before May 17.

From October 28 last year to January 25, Ryan spent more than $71,000 on Meta ads, while Spender spent about $57,000 on Meta ads and more than $28,000 on Google, putting them among the highest-spending individual candidates.

Climate 200 spent $426,000 across Google and Meta ads. The progressive independent funding group directs that money to advertising political candidates and promoting itself to receive further donations. Climate 200 declined to comment.

The Australian government was the biggest spender on Meta in the past three months, paying more than $348,000 for ads in multiple languages promoting policies such as HECS fee changes. For Google, the Australian Council of Trade Unions spent the most with more than $65,000.

Online advertising has become an increasingly crucial part of strategies to reach voters in recent elections.

Spender, who won the previously blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Wentworth in the last election, said online promotion was a crucial way to reach voters after her electorate boundaries changed.

“We have close to 25,000 new voters in our area following the redistribution,” she said.

“I want to make sure they know they’re in Wentworth, hear what’s important to them, and make sure they know how to contact me if they need help. It’s the work any local MP should do.”

The geo-targeting of online ads holds major appeal for Ryan, who faces a battle to retain her seat in Kooyong against Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer.

“I have met so many young people at meet and greets who tell me they get their news from social media. They’ve found the videos that I do quite instructive because I give people the background on policies,” she said.

“We try to advertise online within the electorate, we try to do it to the people who matter to us, so I can elevate my messaging out to people.”

Last month, Ryan launched an attack against the Liberal Party for distributing pamphlets in Kooyong that she described as “inaccurate and misleading”.

Ryan strongly disputed the contents of the pamphlet – which accused her of voting with the Greens a majority of the time in parliament – and said it emphasised the need for truth in political advertising laws.

“It really is extraordinary that in this country it is legal to lie in political advertising. It corrodes people’s faith in democracy and the integrity of their elected representatives,” Ryan said in a statement.

“I have repeatedly called on the government to act on this issue. I will continue to do so until we fix the problem.”

Political advertising will be more prevalent in online and community spaces as the election draws closer, and is not limited to political parties. As reported by this masthead, conservative activist group Advance Australia in November launched a $1.5 million advertising campaign aimed at women that targeted the Greens for their handling of sexual assault allegations within the party.

A still from an Advance Australia advertisement targeting the Greens.

The right-wing group was another top spender in the past three months, forking out more than $52,000 on Meta ads and $50,000 on Google.

The lobby group in the past three months has spent about $20,000 boosting one of the ads targeting the Greens through Google, with it being shown more than 2 million times.

Advance Australia was contacted for comment.

Data from Google revealed political ad spending is primarily directed to Victoria and NSW. In the last three months, more than $133,000 was spent in Victoria and $114,000 in NSW.

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