Election 2022: Labor outguns Liberals in WA with digital attack ads

Labor’s West Australian campaign is outspending the Liberals three to one on Facebook adverts targeting Perth voters.

One of Labor’s attack ads in WA.

Labor’s West Australian campaign is outspending the Liberals three to one on Facebook adverts targeting Perth voters, as the central ALP cedes control to the state party office and makes a major commitment to digital advertising.

The Labor campaign is using specifically tailored advertising for the WA market as part of its efforts to capitalise on the enduring popularity in the west of premier Mark McGowan.

While the sums spent on social media advertising are less than that being funnelled into conventional broadcast advertising, spending data compiled by Facebook parent company Meta shows that Labor is vastly outspending the Liberal Party on the platform.

The three most recent advertisements released by WA Labor on Facebook all feature different clips of Mr McGowan’s endorsement of Labor leader Anthony Albanese at Sunday’s campaign launch, which is another sign of Labor’s focus on the west was held in Perth for the first time in modern history.

Federal Labor has taken the unprecedented decision to allow the WA branch of the party to run its advertising in the state as it looks to arrest its historically poor performance in WA.

The state is shaping as a potentially decisive battleground in the upcoming election, with three Liberal-held seats – Swan, Pearce and Hasluck – all considered in play.

Labor’s campaign in the west is built around advertisements and messaging that have been specifically targeted for a WA population whose parochialism has come to the fore during the pandemic.

The television, radio and online advertisements unique to WA include attack ads highlighting Scott Morrison’s contrasting handling of the pandemic. The advertisements highlight Mr Morrison’s description of NSW’s Covid response as the “gold standard”, his comparison of the WA population with cave people, and his government’s short-lived decision to side with Clive Palmer in the Queensland billionaire’s legal challenge to WA’s hard border.

Those advertisements do not mention Mr Albanese by name and end with the catch phrase “If WA can’t trust ScoMo, let’s give someone else a go”. It is understood the decision not to mention Mr Albanese is part of a deliberate effort to not name Labor or its leader in any of its negative advertisements.

A Labor ad featuring WA Premier Mark McGowan.

While those close to the Labor campaign are trying to avoid putting Mr McGowan at the front and centre of the campaign, given voters understand the differences between state and federal politics, the tailored campaigning in WA shows the party is leading heavily on the lessons from the wildly successful 2021 state election that saw the Liberal Party reduced to just two lower-house seats.

Beyond Mr McGowan’s appearance in the promoted Facebook videos, the WA premier also makes a brief cameo in the positive TV and online advertisement promoting Anthony Albanese.

Mr Albanese and other federal Labor figures on the hustings in WA have repeatedly pitched themselves as “WA’s partner in Canberra” if elected.

While the Liberals are outspending Labor on outdoor advertising and mail-outs, the WA Labor team believes it has an edge on television and radio promotions and is making a massive commitment in both money and manpower to online promotion.

After attracting just 29.8 per cent of the primary vote in the disastrous 2019 election, Labor is now trying to capitalise on the sharp improvement in its brand in the west following Mr McGowan’s leadership during the Covid crisis.

Recent polling published by the Australian Financial Review showed WA was the strongest Labor state in mainland Australia.

Mr McGowan’s relationship with Mr Albanese had been the subject of conjecture when the premier opted not to appear in public with the federal leader during the 2021 state election campaign and again when Mr Alban-ese visited WA after the border opened. But they have since made repeated appearances together and are expected to do so again in the final weeks of the campaign.

A state budget on Thursday, which is expected to include a ­multibillion-dollar surplus fuelled by iron ore and WA’s increased GST share, will include cost-of-living measures that could deliver a further boost to Labor’s campaign.