Albanese Government spends $174 million in taxpayers money on advertising to tell voters about its policies

Almost $174 million of taxpayer money was spent on ad campaigns last financial year — among the highest figures in two decades — with the Albanese Government being accused of “shameless self-promotion”.

Almost a quarter of that money was spent advertising key cost-of-living measures Labor is now using to convince voters it should get a second term.

The advertising push appears to have only increased since July with millions more contracted to raise awareness of Medicare urgent care clinics, cheaper medicines and fee-free TAFE — key cost-of-living measures in the Government’s plans, all of which were also promoted in the previous financial year.

Liberal frontbencher James Stevens, the Opposition’s watchdog on government waste, accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of wasting money on trying “to look like a good government, rather than actually being one”.

“It is outrageous that the Prime Minister thinks he can spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on shameless self-promotion,” Mr Stevens said.

“Anthony Albanese must explain how such an exorbitant advertising expense can possibly be considered ‘unavoidable spending’.”

Ministers have pointed to “unavoidable spending” in multiple Budget updates where permanent funding is needed for ongoing programs that otherwise faced a financial cliff, such as community legal services and the eSafety Commission.

Taxpayer-funded ad campaigns jumped 32 per cent to $173.8 million in 2023-24, a Finance Department report released days before Christmas shows.

This is the fourth-highest spend over the past 20 years, coming behind three financial years that included elections when governments often increase advertising.

However, that amount includes $23.9 million the Australian Electoral Commission spent on ensuring people voted in the Indigenous Voice referendum.

Even if these AEC ads are excluded, it was the fifth-highest spend since 2004.

The list is topped by the Morrison government, which spent $239.6 million on ads in 2021-22 ahead of the previous federal election.

The largest ad campaign in 2023-24 was for Defence Force recruiting, costing $41.4 million.

Treasury spent $15.8 million making sure people knew they were getting a tax cut in July.

Other campaigns during the financial year included $6.6 million explaining how 60-day dispensing made medicines cheaper, $6.2 million related to new vehicle efficiency standards, $4.4 million talking about fee-free TAFE, $3.5 million raising awareness of the new Medicare urgent care clinics and $2.9 million making sure people knew the childcare subsidy increased in July 2023.

These figures don’t include a further $76.6 million for creative services to develop the ads the public saw — the second highest development spend — which brings the total cost to the Budget up to $250 million for the year.

An analysis of advertising-related contracts that started since July, including for the creative development of new campaigns, shows more than $273 million has been spent this financial year.

The vague nature of many contract descriptions — often labelling the service as “advertising” with no further details — may mean this includes more routine spends such as general public notices.

A government spokesperson said both Labor and Coalition administrations spent money on “public information campaigns” on issues of importance to Australians, including policies designed to reduce cost-of-living pressures.

“Just because Peter Dutton is opposed to, and voted against cost of living policies including cheaper medicines, stronger Medicare and Free TAFE doesn’t mean Australians shouldn’t know about them,” the spokesperson said.

“The hypocrisy of Peter Dutton can’t be ignored given he was a member of the government that spent the most on advertising in Australia’s history and doesn’t have a single policy to his name aside from his $600 billion nuclear power plant scheme.”

Most expensive government ads in 2023-24

• $41.4 million - Defence Force recruiting
• $23.9 million - AEC referendum ads
• $15.8 million - promoting tax cuts
• $12 million - child safety, encouraging adults to talk to children about preventing sexual abuse
• $8.2 million - “Act now stay secure” cybersecurity campaign