The folly of Advance

Let’s be clear.

Advance is not a lobby group.

Nor is it an advocacy group.

It’s a RW sect of nutjack zealots funded by big money to interfere in democracy for the benefit of big money.

No lie is too big. No slur is too vile.

It’s about money, power and manipulation of the narrative to divide & conquer.

According to Wikipedia, Advance kicked off in around 2018. Then known as “Advance Australia” they touted themselves as being Australia’s answer to GetUp. ‘The group says it opposes left-wing activists who it also says are trying to change the Australian way of life. It decries radicalism and political correctness (ironic) and says, "Mainstream values have been the bedrock of Australia's growth as a western liberal democracy’  If you believe that load of codswallop, you’ll believe anything.

Advance attempts to appeal to mainstream thought processes by adopting a slew of traditional values and ideologies - then twists them into their own toxic narrative in an attempt to convince gullible people that they really are “for the people” - while Labor, left-wing progressives and their policies that promote renewables, social justice and fairness, equity, better education, healthcare and inclusion - are in fact NOT working in the best interests of the many.

Advance’s success is dependent on a narrative that is based on misinformation, lies and opportunism.

Advance’s success is also dependent on the copious amounts of dollars it receives from wealthy benefactors who all have ulterior motives and vested interests in Advance’s continued success in generating as many lies and as much misinformation as possible to literally “flood the zone with bullshyte”. This bullshyte is generated to convince the masses that they are getting a raw deal, when the raw deal is in fact the outcomes of aforementioned bullshyte - which is more likely to have more benefit for the wealthy rather than the masses they are influencing.

Advance targets bastions of progressive politics such as renewables, climate change, emissions reduction targets and educational institutions instilling “woke agendas” into our children. The reason they do this is not because they essentially believe that climate change is a hoax - although they say it often enough - they are echoing the sentiment of fossil fuel companies and those who support and benefit from the fossil fuel “chain” of wealth and power.

We have seen the incessant rancid rhetoric that Advance generates with regard to their anti climate change and anti renewable agenda.

In 2020, Advance Australia ‘commenced a campaign aimed at children with an e-book titled “10 climate facts to expose the climate-change hoax”. Yes, aimed at children. Yes, they really are that bad. Advance were actually seeking to have their material distributed in classrooms. Thankfully they came up against a formidable immovable force - the Department of Education. I am reminded of the 1930s agenda in Germany where children were indoctrinated in schools to believe a set of rules that had nothing to do with the history of their country, the truth or factual data that may have influenced their opinions otherwise.

Currently Advance are running a continued campaign against the Albanese government regarding the fuel efficiency standards legislation. Undoubtedly you have seen a bot and troll version of ‘release the hounds’ as we are inundated with all manner of shytefokery regarding a Labor “Ute tax” and claims that the good old Toyota Hilux price would increase by thousands of dollars. All Advance’s claims regarding “Ute tax” and higher pricing have been debunked - and yet they persist in the public consciousness because of the many bots and trolls working on social media platforms to reproduce the lie over and over again and negate factual data regarding the positive effects and aspects of Australian fuel efficiency standards legislation- which would in fact be bringing Australian standards in line with the rest of the world and would stop us from being the dumping ground of high emissions vehicles.

Advance have set up petitions online to:

-Keep Australia Day on January 26th.

-Oppose plans by the Labor Party to dividend imputation funds for retirees with superannuation.

-Oppose targets set by Labor to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

(Wikipedia)

You will also note that these petitions run concurrently with Coalition rhetoric and Dutton’s attempts at fear mongering and culture wars.

While all of Advance’s rhetoric is based on misinformation and lies, their most rancid campaign was in support of Peter Dutton’s No campaign against the Voice for First Nations people in The Constitution. Once again, Advance ran concurrently with Peter Dutton, amplifying his negative and divisive comments.

Advance not only spread misinformation regarding The Voice, they misrepresented the words of Indigenous people and personally attacked Yes campaign advocates. You will likely remember the Advance cartoon ad in the Australian Financial Review depicting Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo and Yes campaigner Kate Chaney in a racist trope. The ad was a widely condemned and the AFR issued an apology, unlike Advance, who did not. Nor were they remorseful for their actions.

During the Dunkley byelection, Advance reached a crescendo of prominence and skulduggery when they intimated that Dunkley was full of “rapists, paedophiles and murderers” who were released from Immigration Detention by the High Court on Labor’s watch. Without overstating the obvious, this was a despicable lie.

Advance’s RW links run deep and wide. Advance is packed to the rafters with “Liberal Party operatives”. They have been linked to Tony Abbott, Gerard Benedit, Liz Storer and Zed Seselja (Wikipedia). Notably they have been linked directly to the Liberal Party via the Cormack Foundation, the multimillion dollar investment vehicle of the Liberal Party. The Cormack Foundation donated a whopping $500,000 to Advance in the 2023-24 financial year. I would expect that this is continuing. Advance are not short of well-healed RW donors who only have the best interests of themselves and their RW agenda at heart. The dark money that is ploughing into Advance is mind boggling.

Michael West, independent journalist, says “Hard-right lobby group Advance Australia has amassed a $14 million war chest to target Greens and Teals at the federal election”. As these figures are going off the last financial year, I would imagine that the amount amassed is much higher. Advance’s links to wealthy donors and the fossil fuel industry is, in effect, ironic. They work for the wealthiest while attempting to convince the poorest and most vulnerable among us that they have the community’s best interests at heart .

Advance continues to lobby against renewables while lobbying for fossil fuel. They have been exposed for ‘astroturfing’ and running fake grassroots campaigns. Advance strategically create fake community profiles and/or infiltrate community groups online to circulate their misinformation and lies all over the country and target demographics on social media in an attempt to influence opinion against left-wing political opinion. I have seen this influence in community groups, neighbourhood groups and social media chat groups. It is prolific and is harming social discourse to the point where it is increasingly influencing democracy. Once again, Advance run concurrent online covert campaigns alongside RW media and the “Dutton says” groupies.

Right now, while targeting Labor - Advance is concentrating a considerable and volatile effort on the Greens and the Teals. They have recognised that these groups represent a powerful cross bench in both the upper and lower House. Their aim is to weaken the progressive movement in the crossbench and attempt to install a more hard-right protagonist to check the balance of power in the event that Dutton does not win the election. As an added bonus, RW preferences may flow onto the coalition and they may pick up a Teal, Green or Independent seat. Everything that Advance does is strategic and is rooted in an ideology of division and misinformation to achieve success and attain power.

Recently billboards spruiking fossil fuel propaganda in Newcastle, ironically right next door to mining enterprises, were pull down by oOh! Media after a complaint backlash. These billboards were condemning renewables and claiming they “cost the earth” in dollars and destruction. These billboards were funded by Advance - and by association - the Liberals.

The connection between Advance, the fossil fuel industry and the Liberal Party cannot be denied, nor can it be ignored.

Advance are NOT here to represent “ordinary, everyday Australians”. They are here to represent multinationals, corporations, fossil fuel companies, millionaires and RW politicians.

That’s the truth.

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