Federal election 2016: ACTU opens war chest for marginal seats blitz

The ACTU has begun using its multi-million-dollar war chest ahead of the federal election.

The ACTU has begun using its multi-million-dollar war chest ahead of the federal election, with tens of thousands of organisers and volunteers phoning and doorknocking voters in up to 24 marginal seats.

The union-led army, built over a year-long recruitment drive, was unleashed this week, with members urging households “to put the Liberals last”, and campaigning against the federal budget and cuts to penalty rates.

The unions’ election campaign funds, which could total more than $30 million, are funding television advertisement campaigns, posters, banners, T-shirts and corflute signs, and paying staff who will man polling booths during crucial pre-polling weeks with the goal of electing Labor on July 2.

At the Victorian Trades Hall last night, 200 volunteers and organisers­ made 5000 calls around the country to ask their response to the federal budget, in a bid to identify undecided voters, who will be targeted with anti-­government messages.

The Australian understands the Victorian operation has signed up as many as 5000 volunteers and organisers say there are similar numbers in states that have a higher proportion of marginal seats, particularly Queensland and ­Tasmania.

The ACTU’s grassroots campaign, Build a Better Future, is modelled on the 2014 state election-winning effort by the Victorian Trades Hall, initially designed to defeat Tony Abbott.

“Things stalled a bit when Malcolm Turnbull became leader but now that it looks like Labor is in with a chance, it’s geared right up again,” a union source said yesterday. The latest stage, launched in the wake of the budget, follows a blitz of 22 marginal seats at the start of the year that focused on cuts to Medicare and included demonstrations outside the offices of Coalition MPs in recent weeks.

The Maritime Union of Australia will also air 30-second ads on regional TV, particularly across Queensland and Tasmania’s seats of Braddon and Bass, in its Sacked for Being Australian campaign.

The ACTU amassed $13m towards its campaign through a levy on affiliates agreed at last year’s congress, with unions pouring millions more into campaign coffers.