Morrison boosts “Making Positive Energy” pre-election ad splurge to almost $31 million

The Morrison government has quietly increased its splurge on a taxpayer funded pre-election advertising campaign – designed to convince voters of its climate change and energy credentials – by 160 per cent, committing almost $31 million to its “Making Positive Energy” ad campaign.

As RenewEconomy reported in October, the Morrison government launched the Making Positive Energy advertising campaign while it was settling on its commitment to a zero net emissions target for 2050 and has used the campaign to try and convince voters that it is actually doing something about climate change.

The campaign had an initial budget of almost $13 million and draws upon the Morrison government’s claims about the level of emissions reductions has achieved – claims that have been labelled misleading – as well as its support for “clean” energy sources.

In January, the government quietly ramped up its expenditure on the campaign, boosting its budget for purchasing advertising from $10.45 million to a massive $27.21 million.

Contract details published on the government’s AusTender website show the advertising contract was amended in early January, increasing the total advertising spend by $16.45 million.

It sees the advertising campaign, which includes television advertisements, billboards, and social media advertising, expanded in the lead up to the next federal election, providing a convenient and taxpayer-funded positive advertising campaign for the Morrison government.

Climate change and energy policy have been a weak point for the Coalition, which at times has worked to wind back government support for clean energy technologies while increasing subsidies flowing to fossil fuel industries.

In addition to the $27.21 million advertising buy being made through Mediabrands Australia, the campaign includes a $1.78 million contract for content production through the Surry Hills-based creative agency The Monkeys and a $537,000 market testing contract with IPSOS.

A further $368,434 was spent on the development of a website designed by Oxide Interactive.

It takes the total cost of the advertising campaign, when the preparation of creative materials are included, to $30.85 million.

Federal government advertising guidelines, published by the Department of Finance, state that taxpayer funds may be used to explain government policies or to inform consideration of issues.

“Governments may legitimately use public funds to explain government policies, programs or services, to inform members of the public of their obligations, rights and entitlements, to encourage informed consideration of issues or to change behaviour,” the guidelines say.

“Government campaigns must not be conducted for party political purposes.”

When asked about the Making Positive Energy campaign, officials from the department of industry, science, energy and resources confirmed to a senate estimates hearing in October, that they were required to certify the campaign was for non-political purposes, and had been satisfied that this had been the case for the advertising campaign.

“I’m required to certify a campaign which has been developed in order to do two things; one, promote and endorse the activities of the Australian government, and secondly, in accordance with that statement, ensure myself that it’s not being developed for party political purposes,” department secretary David Fredericks told the hearing.

Earlier this week, the campaign was parodied by Fortescue Future Industries in full-page newspaper ads, which mocked the campaign’s references to “clean” hydrogen and the federal government’s push to support hydrogen projects using fossil fuels and carbon capture and storage.

As noted by RenewEconomy editor Giles Parkinson, while the Making Positive Energy campaign talks up Australia’s progress in adopting renewable energy technologies – including solar, hydrogen and energy storage – it does not include any reference to wind energy, nor any images of wind turbines.

The department of industry, science, energy and resources has been contacted for additional comment.