Millions of Australians have been targeted with anti-Peter Dutton digital advertisements over the past few weeks, paid for by a new climate-focused “news organisation”.
The organisation has spent more on its ads than was spent on the Australian Labor Party’s accounts in February or on the Liberal Party of Australia’s accounts in the past month. Its posts call the opposition leader a liar, a Trump acolyte and accuse him of not caring about veterans
The group is Hothouse Magazine, a self-described news organisation run by a “collection of politically active creatives, writers, artists and educators to create engaging and factual political advertising”.
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As the Coalition cries foul about news outlets funded by donations from Climate 200 backers, Hothouse Magazine has splashed $120,000 on Meta political ads in the past month alone. It’s at the crest of a wave of climate-focused groups that are becoming some of the biggest spenders on online political advertising in the lead-up to the federal election.
First registered in September last year, Hothouse Magazine’s frontman — and just about its only writer so far — is Matt Bray. He’s also the creative director of climate advocacy group Comms Declare and founder of the Art Disrupt creative studio. Bray told Crikey that Hothouse Magazine aims to “challenge the status quo and give space to new voices”.
A quick glance at its website shows a handful of posts over the past few months, including an interview with an environmental filmmaker, an essay about climate adaptation mechanics in games and a pronouncement about how Hothouse Magazine is going to Canberra to “bust your balls”. But the major output of Hothouse Magazine so far has been its digital advertising.
Bray wrote in February that “we’ll be elevating information pertinent to the Australian federal election with content that challenges some of the garbage being spruiked by some players in the race to rule Canberra.”
In the past 90 days, Hothouse Magazine has spent $159,766 on Facebook and Instagram ads, according to Meta’s political ad library. Third-party ad analysis platform PoliDashboard has recorded Hothouse Magazine running 1,044 Facebook and Instagram ads, seen by almost 10 million people in the past 90 days.
These ads almost exclusively attack Peter Dutton. Its most viewed ad, “Peter Dutton opposed WA getting a fair GST deal”, was run through February prior to WA’s state election. Its next most popular ads attack Dutton’s promise to be the mining sector’s “best friend”, and his energy and housing affordability plans.
The Coalition’s complaint is that new media start-ups like Gazette News, which launched last year led by Anna Saulwick, a former change.org and UNICEF executive and GetUp campaign manager, are political organisations because of their backers.
But there’s nothing illegal about news organisations having an editorial, political line, or even explicitly endorsing candidates (Australian major newspapers have made election endorsements for decades).
Despite this, Hothouse Magazine carries an electoral authorisation on its website and social media accounts, which is unusual for an outlet that claims to be a news organisation.
Bray says that Hothouse Magazine crowdfunded its existing war chest and continues to seek donations. He didn’t answer questions about whether the spending so far has been funded by small-money donors or if there are any significant contributors. Disclosures for pre-election and election campaign-related donations aren’t due until after the next election, so the identity of anyone who’s donated more than $16,000 won’t be revealed until after election day.
When it comes to seeking donations, the news organisation is clear about how they’ll be used.
“Your donation will help Hothouse amplify campaigns, messages and stories that encourage progressive conversations around the environment, politics, social justice and inclusivity,” the website’s donation page says.
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