Anthony Albanese has hit back against right-wing advocacy group Advance as they attack the Prime Minister with ferocious attack ads.
Advance, who led the No campaign against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, has set its sights on dealing another blow to Mr Albanese in the by-election for the Melbourne seat of Dunkley.
On Thursday, the lobby group took out a visually striking full-page advertisement in Melbourne tabloid the Herald Sun, which featured an image of a grumpy-looking Mr Albanese and directly accused him of unleashing “rapists, pedophiles and murderers”.
“Albo, you unlocked the immigration detention doors and released 149 criminals,” the ad reads in striking red, black and white colors.
The full-page newspaper ad removed by right-wing advocacy group Advance to influence voters in the Dunkley by-election
“You paid for lawyers to argue for their release.”
The ad references a Supreme Court ruling in November that found the Australian government’s indefinite detention of refugees was unlawful because it gave politicians powers reserved for the courts.
As a result, 149 asylum seekers who had been held indefinitely – who were deemed too dangerous to walk the streets and who could not be deported to another country – have been released.
“Tell us, Prime Minister, how many are in Dunkley? We demand that you tell us by March 2: “The ad ends with a reference to the midterm election date,” the ad continues.
About 24 of the released prisoners have been charged with new crimes since their release.
When asked about the Advance advert on Melbourne radio station 3AW on Thursday, Mr Albanese accused Advance Australia of fear-mongering and spreading misinformation.
“I think people will look at that advert, which is designed to scare people, and see it for what it is,” Mr Albanese told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
“Our top priority is the safety of Australians. Australians know that this was a decision of the High Court of Australia and that governments must obey the law.
‘It’s a shame because I don’t want Australia to go the American way, where there is so much polarisation.
“We can have disagreements on issues, but we should always try to be respectful and talk through the facts, rather than just running a fear campaign.”
Advance defended the ad.
“It is both pathetic and frustrating that any inquiry into Anthony Albanese’s decisions is met with accusations of ‘misinformation’,” a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.
“His Labor government authorized and paid lawyers to argue for the release of these dangerous criminals from immigration detention. This is a fact.’
‘We know there are forty of them in Victoria. This is also a fact.
“The idea that Australians shouldn’t ask how many live in their suburb is simply ridiculous.”
The Albanian government’s attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, authorized the taxpayer-funded Australian Human Rights Commission to join a case in the High Court that claims indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.
Documents show that Dreyfus approved this on June 5, as long as it was clear that the Commission was acting on its own and not on behalf of the government.
The Advance ad has been condemned by asylum seeker advocates.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured with fiancée Jodie Haydon) says Advance Australia’s ad targeting him is an example of polarizing US-style politics
‘This is in today’s Herald Sun, paid for by Advance Australia. White supremacy is alive and well in Australia,” said Kon Karapanagiotis, CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Center.
Australian Multicultural Council member and former Socceroo Craig Foster accused the ad of ‘reaching new depths’That couldn’t happen in a multicultural country,” he said.
Melbourne-based marketing and communications guru Adam Ferrier said political attack ads are on the rise because they work.
“The human brain has a so-called negativity bias, which means we pay more attention to negative stimuli than positive stimuli,” he told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.
“Donald Trump taught us that you can say anything and as long as it gets attention, it works.
Australian Multicultural Council member and former Socceroo Craig Foster accused the Advance ad of ‘reaching new depths’
Marketing and communications guru Adam Ferrier said negative political advertising is increasing because it works
Advance, which changed its name from Advance Australia in May, is said to have $200,000 to spend in Dunkley, out of the $5.1 million in donations the group received last year.
The group used this war chest to fund the No campaign for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, which won a resounding victory in the October 14 referendum, with more than 60 percent of voters rejecting the Indigenous body.
Advance was founded in 2018 by former Liberal staffer Gerard Benedet as a counterbalance to the left-wing group GetUp! and copied their electoral strategy of not advocating for a party, but running negative advertisements against their political opponents.