Annastacia Palaszczuk in taxpayer-funded ad blitz before election

Contract disclosures reveal Premier’s department spent $11.8m on COVID-related advertising from March to September.

Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk spokesperson said it was ‘absolutely vital for us to ensure Queenslanders have up-to-date health advice and clear information about restrictions’. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s department paid an advertising agency $6.9m to spruik the government’s economic recovery plan and spread COVID-19 health messages in the two months before the October election.

Contract disclosures reveal the Department of Premier and Cabinet spent a total of $11.8m with MediaCom on COVID-related advertising between late March and September.

Seven separate contracts worth almost $7m were awarded to the Queensland company in July, August and early September, ahead of Ms Palaszczuk’s October 31 re-election.

After her victory, she said the result was proof that Queenslanders had endorsed her tough border closures and ability to keep them safe during the pandemic.

The most lucrative contracts included $1.2m for “media services for stage two of economic recovery” advertisements in June, and $4.7m for MediaCom on August 16 for “media services for public health messaging and to inform Queenslanders of the state’s recovery plan”.

It followed $54,000 paid to MediaCom in mid-July to develop print media advertisements to “inform Queenslanders on the plan for economic recovery”.

After Treasurer Cameron Dick launched the economic recovery plan in September – and announced the government would borrow an extra $4bn to pay for its election promises – he brandished the document regularly, rarely appearing without it at press conferences and media appearances.

Queensland has strict rules against spending taxpayer money on electioneering.

Asked how Queenslanders could be confident that the advertising was purely for public health purposes, and not for political benefit in an election year, a spokesman for Ms Palaszczuk said it was “absolutely vital for us to ensure Queenslanders have up-to-date health advice and clear information about restrictions”.

“Our ability to communicate effectively to Queenslanders has been crucial to our health response to COVID-19,” he said.

“Ensuring Queenslanders know about the support available from the government will continue to be an important part of our economic recovery.”

He said the federal government spent $128m on advertising in 2019-20 and the former Newman LNP state government had spent $100m on advertising, scoping studies, and other costs for its Strong Choices asset sales program between 2012 and 2015.

But LNP Opposition deputy leader David Janetzki said Labor had used Queensland taxpayers as a “cash cow” during the election campaign.

“Spending millions for political gain disguised as public health spending is profoundly cynical,” he said. “Other political parties were forced to follow strict election spending caps but Labor bent the rules to suit themselves.”

New electoral expenditure rules, which came into effect at the October election, capped spending for political parties standing in all 93 electorates at $8.6m, with $58,000 extra for each endorsed candidate.

In August, The Australian revealed the government had quietly relaxed rules banning most government advertising within six months of an election.

Under new guidelines published in late 2019, advertising “should cease when caretaker period commences” unless there is an urgent emerging issue, the material addresses a social-education issue (such as road safety or health), or it communicates information such as train timetable changes.

Government advertising campaigns ahead of the election focused heavily on the government’s signature infrastructure project, the $5.4bn Cross River Rail public transport tunnel, which is under construction and featured on highway billboards, glossy letterbox drops, and in other ads.

There was also a surge in advertisements promoting the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, and social media material – circulated by Ms Palaszczuk and branded with just her name – disseminating COVID-19 messaging.