Teals splashing the green around online

While some Liberals believe the Teals’ spending is wasteful, others fear the Coalition is missing a trick by not being more active on the social media platforms.

Kooyong MP Monique Ryan. Picture: Ian Currie/NewsWire

Teal MPs are outspending Liberal rivals on advertising through the major social media platforms, in a sign of the task ahead for the ­Coalition as it tries to win back former stronghold seats.

Meta’s spending tracker, which records how much politicians, parties and political groups are spending on advertising through Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, shows that the teal independents have pumped more money than anyone into online promotion in recent months.

Monique Ryan, who defeated former treasurer Josh Frydenberg for the seat of Kooyong in the 2022 election, has spent almost $31,000 on Meta ads since the start of May – more than twice as much as Anthony Albanese and vastly more than the $4700 spent by Peter Dutton over the same period. Fellow teals Kate Chaney and Allegra Spender have also outspent the Prime Minister over the past three months.

Wentworth MP Allegra Spender. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

The teals snared several Liberal heartland seats at the last election, and winning those back is central to the Coalition’s hopes of returning to government.

Not one of the Liberal candidates preselected to run in those teal-held seats has started spending on social media advertising to date, and only one – former MP Tim Wilson, who is fighting to win back the seat of Goldstein that was won from him by teal Zoe Daniel – is registered with the Meta spend tracker.

The bulk of Dr Ryan’s social media advertising to date has been centred on promoting events such as a town hall with senator Jacqui Lambie, and a police community forum. Such events can help not only to strengthen a candidate’s community engagement but also help add to the electorate database.

Dr Ryan has also run several advertisements in recent weeks seeking volunteers to help with her re-election campaign, describing the upcoming election as “one of the most important of our lifetime”.

In a statement to The Australian, she said a lot of the money she had spent on digital ads was to let the community know about upcoming events. “These community events are an important part of being an independent – I want to be out in the community as much as possible so I can be sure I’m voting in line with the community’s values and taking action on the issues that are most important to us,“ she said.

While the teal candidates in 2022 had strong financial support from Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 group, the incumbent teal MPs this time – like all MPs – will each have an annual taxpayer-funded $300,000 communications budget.

In NSW, the spending by teal MPs Ms Spender ($15,700), Kylea Tink ($2600) and Zali Steggall ($957) compares to $35 spent over the same period by the NSW Liberal Party.

One Liberal insider described the teal spending as wasteful, noting it was unusual to see such spending this far out from an election before all electoral boundaries are finalised.

Ms Chaney’s online advertising spend vastly exceeds everyone else in the west, despite her having said she is not yet in “campaign mode”. The $16,600 she has spent in recent months compares to $1800 of Meta advertising by Liberals WA.

“Younger people are less likely to attend in-person events and increasingly look to social media for their news,” Ms Chaney said. “I use channels like Facebook and Instagram to reach new constituents and keep my community informed about what I’m doing and what opportunities there are to have their say.”

Curtin MP Kate Chaney. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

Others fear the Liberals are missing a trick by not being more active in the space, saying social media is a strong way to both build the profile of otherwise ­little-known candidates and collect data that can prove useful closer to the election.

Ms Chaney’s seat of Curtin, won by 2657 votes in 2022, is a must-win seat for the Liberals, who have preselected former Uber executive Tom White as their candidate.

Mr White is campaigning full-time for the seat, and recently received a boost to his campaign coffers when a $975-a-ticket fundraising event featuring John Howard drew about 200 people.

He has directed his efforts largely to grassroots campaigning and doorknocking, with digital and other advertising expected to ramp up as the election nears.

While Liberals believe the departures of Scott Morrison and Mark McGowan from politics since the last election can tip the scales in their favour in Curtin, the electorate recorded a majority yes vote at last year’s voice ­referendum.