Show me the money: meet the influencers hoping to sway your vote at the election

With a federal election looming by May 17, ACM, the publisher of this masthead, has pulled back the curtain on just some of the people and groups behind the campaigns.

They could have a "significant impact" on elections and help sway public opinion, including at a local level, Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore said.

"Increasingly, the tactics and the strategies of these groups are becoming more sophisticated, using very targeted social media advertising campaigns, focusing on particular demographics and particular types of voters," he said.

And not all were transparent about who was behind them.

"This means the public is left in the dark as to their motivations or political leanings of these highly effective campaign groups," Mr Moore said.

Formerly Advance Australia, the conservative lobby group started as a right wing alternative to GetUp! and featured heavily in the campaign against a Voice to Parliament.

Advance is more notable for what it opposes than what it stands for, but lists net zero, COVID-19 lockdowns, the Chinese Communist Party and "woke politicians and the inner city elites" among its concerns.

So far, it is heavily focused on attacking the Greens in its ads this election.

Between January 29 and February 27 Advance spent $33,452 on Meta ads which ran on Facebook and Instagram, according to the Meta Ad Library which tracks spending on ads for political or social issues on the platforms.

NT Nationals senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was a spokesperson for the group.

Its one-time director was former Liberal Party staffer Gerard Benedet.

It received a $500,000 donation from Liberal Party investment firm, the Cormack Foundation, in the last financial year.

In total, Advance received more $15.6 million in the 2023-24 financial year, according to Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) annual donations data.

But the sources of that funding are largely unknown. Just $913,500 of the money is linked to known donors.

This is because only payments of $16,300 and above have to be publicly disclosed and linked back to an identified donor.

Advance was contacted for comment.

Now relatively well known, Climate 200 is the driving financial force behind the so-called teal movement and convened by businessman and philanthropist Simon Holmes à Court (son of Australia's first billionaire Robert Holmes à Court).

The funding vehicle is openly supporting 35 candidates in the 2025 federal election, including nine existing independent MPs.

It's backing 19 hopefuls in non-city electorates.

Climate 200 says it is focused on action to address climate change, as well as integrity in politics and respect for women.

Climate 200 is a big spender on political ads on Meta social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.

Between January 29 and February 27 it spent $268,179.

Over the same period it spent $37,350 on Google ads, which is tracked via the Google Ads Transparency Centre.

It's also running ads through "Independent News" supporting independent candidates.

Climate 200 received more than $4.4 million in the 2023-24 financial year where the donor was identified, according to AEC annual donations data.

It received nearly $6 million overall.

Notable advisors to the organisation include former federal Liberal leader John Hewson, former Labor president Barry Jones, former Democrats leader Meg Lees, and former independent regional MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott.

A spokesman for Climate 200 said it had 44,000 supporters nationwide, but campaigns and candidates were in the hands of community groups.

"We don't initiate campaigns, we don't select candidates, we don't run campaigns," he said.

"That's all in the hands of community groups.

"For us, it's all about impact and issues, like strong, science-based action on climate change, integrity in politics and gender equality."

A relatively new player in the rush to sway public political opinion, Australians for Prosperity first posted to Facebook and Instagram in September 2024.

Traditional conservative values of individual freedom, private enterprise, a free market and low taxation underpin this lobby group's stated mission, as well as a commitment to primary industries.

Its political messages are largely anti-Greens, anti-teals and anti-Labor.

Between January 29 and February 27 Australians for Prosperity spent $17,717 on Meta platforms.

The group's leadership team includes former Liberal MP Julian Simmonds and former Liberal staffer Will Dempsey.

In 2024, Australians for Prosperity received $725,000 from Coal Australia, a lobby group for the coal industry, according to Electoral Commission of Queensland records.

Parnell Palme McGuinness, a communications consultant and Nine columnist, sits on its advisory board, as does TikToker Jack Tossol.

Its other advisors are Alexandra Sinenko, the Queensland Young LNP president, and Dr Nataliya Ilyushina who was a speaker at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Australia.

Australians for Prosperity was contacted for comment.

As the name suggests, Australian unions represent the union movement through its peak body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).

The stated aims of unions collectively are to represent workers and advocate for workers' rights and better working conditions.

They encourage workers to join their relevant union and list superannuation, Medicare and annual leave among the successful campaigns it has spearheaded.

Their social media ads in February have been variations on a "Don't risk Dutton" theme, in reference to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

Between January 29 and February 27 Australian Unions spent $109,366 on Meta platform ads.

Over the same period the ACTU spent $51,150 on Google ads.

The union movement has a long-standing political, financial and ideological connection to the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

A campaign of Solutions for Climate Australia which is, in turn, part of Climate Action Network Australia (CANA), it says it is not politically aligned and is focused on action to address climate change.

Energy for Australia supports renewable energy like wind and solar and opposes nuclear power.

Between January 29 and February 27, Energy for Australia spent $125,291 on Meta platform ads.

Climate Action Network Australia (CANA) says it has 150 non-profit organisation members, such as environmental advocacy groups WWF Australia and Greenpeace, as well as small community bodies.

Will Shackel, an 18-year-old Queenslander, founded Nuclear for Australia to advocate overturning the ban on nuclear energy.

The lobby group says it is non-partisan and promotes nuclear science and technology.

Mr Shackel said he became interested in nuclear energy as a response to concerns about the energy transition and climate change.

Between January 29 and February 27, Energy for Australia spent $43,515 on Meta social media platform ads.

However, its does not appear to have any active ads in early March.

The last of its active Meta ads were to promote bringing Miss America 2023 Grace Stanke, a nuclear fuels engineer, to tour Australia in early 2025 to convince people they should support nuclear power.

It had ads promoting nuclear power over renewables scheduled until March 1.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced in June 2024 where a Coalition government would place seven nuclear power plants around Australia.

Entrepreneur Dick Smith, who is known to be pro-nuclear, is a founding funder of Nuclear for Australia and its chair is Dr Adi Paterson, the former head of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).

There are numerous small and large politically-aligned, issues-focused and business groups - as well as individuals with deep pockets - hoping to influence both political party priorities and voter preferences at the forthcoming election.

The groups mentioned above represent just a small selection.

Got something to add or a story to tell? Leave a comment or email the journalist, saffron.howden@austcommunitymedia.com.au