Victorian election: Labor ads back teals in Liberal-held seats

Labor has launched new social media advertisements, personally targeting Liberals in seats whether their main competition is from ‘teal’ candidates.

Voters in the teal target seat of Hawthorn are being shown social media ads featuring the face of Liberal candidate John Pesutto.

The Victorian ALP has launched social media advertisements that target Liberal candidates in seats where their main competition is from Climate 200-backed “teal” candidates, and not Labor.

In a clear demonstration of the Andrews government’s determination to help Climate 200-backed candidates beat moderate Liberals in Saturday’s poll, voters in Hawthorn and Kew, in Melbourne’s leafy east, are being shown ads featuring the faces of Liberal candidates John Pesutto and Jess Wilson.

The “Lock the Gate” misinformation campaign being run on Facebook via sponsored ads from Labor claims the state Liberal Party plans to “rip up Victoria’s ban on fracking”.

Fracking, involving unconventional gas exploration, was first banned in Victoria by the Napthine Coalition government, with the ban more recently enshrined in the state’s Constitution by the Andrews government.

The Guy opposition’s gas policy, announced earlier this month, does not relate to fracking, but rather seeks to “turbocharge” onshore conventional gas development, which is already able to occur under existing laws.

Hawthorn unexpectedly became a Labor seat for the first time since 1955 when Liberal frontbencher John Pesutto lost it to retired school principal John Kennedy, who has a notional margin of just 0.4 per cent.

Mr Pesutto is running to win it back, but his main rival this time is teal candidate Melissa Lowe, who is running with the backing of Climate 200, which successfully supported Monique Ryan to defeat former treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the corresponding federal seat of Kooyong in May.

Also overlapping with Kooyong is the neighbouring seat of Kew, being vacated by drink-­driving Liberal MP Tim Smith, whose 2018 win converts to a ­notional margin of 4.5 per cent.

The Liberal candidate is former Frydenberg staffer Jess Wilson, who is up against Climate 200-backed candidate Sophie Torney.

The ads are also running in the marginal Liberal-held seats of Brighton, Caulfield and Ripon.

The Victorian Labor Facebook page has spent $150,687 on advertising on the platform over the past seven days, compared with just $26,427 by the Liberals.

Both sides are investing heavily in negative advertisements featuring their opponents, with Daniel Andews featuring in the vast ­majority of Liberal ads.

The campaigning comes as Grattan Institute transport and cities program director Marion Terrill issued an analysis of transport policy ahead of the election, concluding that the Andrews ­government’s Suburban Rail Loop is the “key differentiator” between the two major parties.

Ms Terrill criticised both major political parties for their failure to prioritise policies which have been properly scrutinised by Infrastructure Australia.