2 weeks Ago By Cam Wilson
Warning: this article contains mention of sexual assault. Sexual assault accusers who complained about how the Greens handled their claims say Liberal-backed activist group Advance used their stories without their consent in a well-funded attack campaign against the party. As part of Advance’s broader attack against the Greens in the lead-up to the federal election, the right-wing group has run a micro-targeted “Her Truth” campaign that uses progressive-sounding language to call for people to “stand with the women that have been silenced by the Greens”.
The campaign revolves around a series of complaints about the Greens’ mishandling of sexual assault and harassment complaints that were reported in the late 2010s. The “Her Truth” campaign lifts from these reports, using paid targeted political advertising, billboards and social media posts depicting faceless women paired with real quotes from former Greens staff and volunteers: “They didn’t apologise for anything,” said one example. Two of the people prominently quoted in this campaign have told Crikey that Advance did not seek their permission to use quotes about their allegations of sexual assault.
In fact, each of them said they had no idea that their stories were being used in the election campaign until they were contacted. They gave Crikey permission to use their names. Both opposed the use of their stories by Advance.
“They didn’t approach me and I obviously wouldn’t have said yes,” said Riley Brooke, who criticised how the Greens handled their sexual assault claim in 2018. Know something more about this story? Contact Cam Wilson securely via Signal using the username @cmw.69.
Or use our Tip Off form . Ella Buckland, who also made a sexual assault claim against a Greens MP in 2018, told Crikey , “Of course they didn’t ask me.” (The MP denied the claim, and a report commissioned by the Greens did not make a finding on its truth.
) Brooke said they stand by their criticism of the NSW Greens, but that the party had made improvements to its processes since 2018 in response to their claims: “I don’t think things have been completely fixed, but we made them do some of the things that we had been asking for years by adding the public pressure of the media,” they said. Buckland, on the other hand, is still furious about how she was treated by the Greens. “The Greens are fucked,” she said.
Both of them share a disgust that their stories of sexual assault have been used by Advance. Buckland believes they’re using her story as a cynical attack with no intention of improving how parties deal with sexual assault claims. “What is their policy [about this topic]?” she laughs.
“They’re the same type of people who were calling me a drunk slut at the time.” Brooke said that Advance’s campaign was purely about attacking the party and not about improving the handling of sexual assault. “We had faith that some of the Greens did, to some degree, care about this.
I wouldn’t even have bothered with this type of considered criticism to anyone further to the right because I know they don’t give a fuck about sexual violence,” they said. “Advance is using this to shill for the Liberal Party, but both major parties support the IDF’s genocide in Palestine and offshore detention of people seeking asylum, both sites of horrific sexual violence, and neither has a clean track record on sexual violence in their own parties. They’re complete hypocrites.
” Advance refused an opportunity to take down the advertisements after being told by Crikey that those people quoted did not agree to the use of their stories. A spokesperson did not answer questions about whether Advance had sought permission from the people it quoted, or what ideas it had for improving sexual assault reporting and complaints handling in politics. Advance instead defended its use of quotes as drawn from the media.
“The Her Truth campaign has been running for a year and we have only received positive feedback, including from women who have been the victims of toxic Greens culture,” the spokesperson said in an email. “The complaints and accusations against the Greens are not trivial and include serious allegations of bullying, sexual assault and the cover-up of rape. It’s been going on for years and Australians need to know the staggering extent of the allegations against the Greens.
” The federal Greens did not respond to a request for comment. Advance has been up front about its intention to use sexual assault allegations to target the Greens. In November, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the group was an “unlikely ally of Labor” for committing to spend $1.
5 million on a campaign in marginal seats contested by the Greens. This comes as part of a reported $10 million federal election spend, which also includes campaigns on immigration — with a new Facebook page called “Immigration Crisis” — and attacks on the Labor government’s “woke” spending on things like Indigenous health grants. The group has received considerable donations from Liberal Party vehicles in the past.
Advance CEO Matthew Sheahan gave more insight into the campaign in a rare interview with the Australian Jewish Association last year. After the group’s success as a major part of the No campaign in the Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023, Sheahan says Advance decided that the Greens were the “biggest threat to freedom, security and prosperity in this country”. Advance chose to focus on crafting a campaign aimed at women aged between 33-49, Sheahan said, who were more likely to vote for the Greens and “persuadable”.
Since then, the group has run more than $75,000 on 390 Meta political advertisements on a “Her Truth” Facebook and Instagram account. More than 20 of these advertisements are solely targeted at women. While many of the ads are targeted at postcodes for the electorates of Greens members — including Adam Bandt, Max Chandler-Mather, Elizabeth Watson-Brown and Stephen Bates — Advance is also targeting voters in Macnamara, held by Labor’s Josh Burns, and Wills, held by Labor’s Peter Khalil.
The group also reportedly had billboards in Melbourne for the Prahan state byelection in Victoria, a campaigning effort that prompted an investigation by the Victorian Electoral Commission. Monash University politics lecturer Dr Blair Williams said that sexual violence and sexism were factors in the past election, and that Advance was trying to tap into this movement by “weaponising” these stories. “I think it’s quite disturbing that they are using this issue to smear a party when it’s a problem with all parties,” she told Crikey .
“It’s something that needs to be more systematically and structurally dealt with. But we know that Advance doesn’t want to deal with it. They don’t care about it.
They’re just using this to get the Greens.” Advance’s concern in sexual assault claims from women in politics does not appear to extend past the Greens. In 2021, Advance denounced former attorney-general Christian Porter’s “trial by media” about a historic rape claim, comparing it with an allegation made against ex-Labor leader Bil Shorten.
“The double standards and precedent set are, quite frankly, terrifying,” Advance wrote. If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault or violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.
au . In an emergency, call 000..
