Independents' Facebook spending falls – The Age

Last time we caught up with our like-minded independents – pro-environment, pro-integrity commission, anti-carbon, anti-moderate Liberal MPs (just call don’t them a political party!) – the climate-minded crew were outpacing the major parties in their social media ad spending by a serious margin.Pied piper for independents.Credit:BenkeAs of mid-March, federal Sydney electorate of Wentworth independent Allegra Spender had shelled out almost $70,000 on Facebook advertisements in the previous 90 days and $34,000 on ads in the month to mid-March. At the time, the independents’ spending paled in comparison to Simon Holmes a Court’s environment cheer squad (and independent candidate ATM) Climate 200, which had forked out almost $350,000 on Facebook ads in the 90 days to March 25.But nine days into the federal election campaign, there has been a sea change. Spending data compiled by CBD on Facebook shows the majors are catching up.Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese alone has spent $68,000 in the past seven days, just pipping his Australian Labor Party’s $67,000. The Federal Liberals are in third place spending $31,000 in the past week.But the highest-spending Liberal is, yes, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who has spent $21,200 in the past week. He has even outspent his boss Prime Minister Scott…
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