Josh Butler and Dan Jervis-Bardy
The United Australia party is no longer, but now Trumpet of Patriots is making a lot of noise – and their ads look uncannily similar. Plus: policy bantz with Bandt
Clive Palmer has a new party and a new slogan, but it’s still the same old ads from the eclectic mining magnate. Not content with pouring hundreds of millions into the past two federal campaigns, for the princely return of one senator who seemingly spends most of his days tweeting furious support for Donald Trump, Palmer is kickstarting his blanket ad campaigns again – this time for the Trumpet of Patriots, but still in the ubiquitous Palmer yellow.
On Monday, huge banner ads ran across the front pages of The Australian, Daily Telegraph and West Australian newspapers: “We don’t need to be welcomed to our own country,” one ad screamed, while the other yelled “Too much immigration destroys infrastructure”.
On Tuesday an ad on the front page of the Newcastle Herald proclaimed: “There are only two genders – male and female.” (Later the same day the Herald withdrew the ad from its digital editions and apologised, saying it “offended many of our readers and did not meet our values as a company”.)
All the ads ran with a QR code where readers could sign up to become ToP candidates.
TV viewers in some seats are already being carpet bombed with short ads of Palmer staring directly into the camera, talking about fast trains and cost of living. Those same ads have also made their way to social media and online channels, as the Palmer advertising machine creaks into life.
We Need to Urgently Find Solutions to the Cost of Housing – Trumpet of Patriots – Clive Palmer
Reduce the cost of housing by 50%. Fast trains 120 km from the CBD, 20 minutes to the CBD, affordable homes.
Vote 1, Trumpet of Patriots pic.twitter.com/gHFCSOCG5l— Trumpet of Patriots (@TrumpetPatriots) March 8, 2025
In one set of videos Palmer stands in front of what looks like a house front door and sways back and forth as he reads off a script. Another is a clip from Palmer’s speaking tour of Australia with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who tells the audience he admires Palmer “so much”.
Both are about to find you on YouTube, Google, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Trumpet of Patriots started up its Google and YouTube blitz last Thursday, spending about $15,000 in 48 hours. Over the seven days to Monday, Trumpet of Patriots had spent about $140,000 on Google and YouTube ads, which generated between 4m and 5m impressions online, according to Google’s ad library tool.
Palmer’s new party is already outspending the major parties, splashing cash on Google ads at a higher rate than even the Western Australian Liberal and Labor parties ahead of the state election last week.
X doesn’t have such a research function, but paid ads spruiking the lead candidate Suellen Wrightson (“the next prime minister”, according to ToP ads) are already popping up.
The Meta platform is not yet soaked in Clive, with ToP spending less than $800 on such ads as of Friday afternoon, according to its ad library.
But based on previous elections, it won’t be too long before you can recite those ads word-for-word, such is the brute-force nature of Palmer’s ad spend.
Endorsements are part and parcel of election campaigns, carefully crafted words of praise from a well-known figure designed to boost the profile of a candidate.
Typically, these glowing character references come from former politicians such as John Howard or Julia Gillard.
Very rarely do they come from the coach of a professional sporting team.
So we took more than a passing interest in a clip of the Canberra Raiders coach, Ricky Stuart, standing alongside the Labor minister Kristy McBain with a very clear message for voters in her southern NSW electorate of Eden-Monaro.
“I know who I’m supporting in season 2025, what about you, Rick?” McBain asks her guest.
“I know who I’m supporting too: Vote 1 Kristy McBain,” Stuart replies.
I’m backing @RaidersCanberra and will always have the back of the #MightyEdenMonaro! #NRLVegas #Raiders #NRL2025 #auspol pic.twitter.com/TcXKP2jhrK
— Kristy McBain MP, Member for Eden Monaro (@KristyMcBain) March 1, 2025
“Sticky”, as he’s affectionally known, goes on to praise McBain for her support for the Raiders and loyalty to her electorate, which surrounds the ACT.
McBain has pinned the video to her Instagram and X pages, showing she’s keen to promote Stuart’s shout-out.
A boundary redistribution has made the former bellwether seat slightly more marginal – reduced from an 8.2% margin to about 6.1% – but Labor is confident McBain will hold on.
This isn’t the first time Stuart has publicly applauded a politician. He described the former ACT Liberal senator Zed Seselja as “a man who definitely sticks by his principles” in a profile piece before the 2022 election.
McBain – one of Labor’s rising stars – will hope she doesn’t suffer the same fate as the now former senator.
The podcast host and influencer Abbie Chatfield disclosed before her interview with Anthony Albanese last month that she was looking forward to speaking with the Greens leader, Adam Bandt – acknowledging that her listeners were “predominantly Green voters, or a bit further left than Labor”.
It seems she got her wish, with both Chatfield and Bandt posting Instagram stories on Monday of an in-studio interview that she said would be played in a 90-minute episode released on Tuesday. The former Bachelor contestant called Bandt “a lovely, lovely man with great policies” in a teaser video clip.
The pair are linking up again for a Greens event in Melbourne on Sunday called (imaginatively) “VOTE”, with Chatfield hosting and Bandt listed to throw down a DJ set.
Allow Instagram content?
This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
“It’s a Sunday day party with a side of political enlightenment,” the event description reads. It’s already sold out, at $15 a head, in case you’re wondering.
“Weak” has long been Peter Dutton’s favoured word to describe Anthony Albanese.
It’s fair to assume the label is resonating in Liberal focus groups, given how frequently Dutton and his colleagues deploy it.
But in their pitch for the youth vote, the Liberals are using a different slur to describe Albanese and his Labor government: “mid”.
The phrase is a gen Z insult for someone who is mediocre, average, a bit … meh.
Allow TikTok content?
This article includes content provided by TikTok. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
“He’s so mid fr,” reads the caption of a Liberal party TikTok video, a montage of awkward footage of the prime minister overlayed with “things Albanese doesn’t want you to see” (the rising cost of rent, groceries, gas etc).
In another, a forlorn Shrek – the green ogre of the eponymous film franchise – blames the “mid Labor government” for not being able to afford a good animator for the latest instalment.
Seen something unusual, alarming or amusing under the surface of the campaign? Email [email protected] or [email protected]