Launched in 2018 as a conservative answer to GetUp!, the group Advance likes to style itself as the voice of the average person against “the elite"._

A repost from 15 October 2025

A list of its donors, including some of Australia’s wealthiest, shows something entirely different.

A conservative political lobbying group with close links to the Liberal Party, Advance aggressively campaigns against renewable energy, making such false claims that offshore wind farms kill whales. It has painted those in immigration detention as “rapists, paedophiles and murderers”, opposes gender identity questioning, and continues to strongly campaign against an Indigenous Welcome to Country. It offers unquestioning support for Israel, while calling for retention of the current Australian flag.

It charges these issues are identified with a “woke elite” (often identified with those of the inner city, having as their beverage, latte and chardonnay), who are nefariously leading Australia on a path benefitting them, while harming the “average person in the street". 

Advance, closely aligned with the Liberal Party’s far-right, including former prime minister Tony Abbott and current members Andrew Hastie and Jacinta Price, is highly critical of the party’s moderates such as current leader, Sussan Ley, actively agitating for change in the Liberal leadership.

It has also closely identified itself with the Trump-led MAGA movement, making clear it wishes to build something similar. Advance spokeswoman, Sandra Bourke asserted, “Trump’s leadership shows what Australia could achieve.”

In spite of casting itself as opposing “the woke elite”, terms it constantly uses, on turning to Advance’s donors, we find an organisation a long way removed from the “average punter”. 

The Australian Electoral Commission reports........

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