The billionaire’s first donation in 12 years went almost unnoticed.
The Australian lobby group Advance was dismissed when it started up in 2018.
Designed to be a counter-voice to lobbyists Get Up! The group was founded by a gaggle of wealthy Australians, many of whom with Liberal party connections.
Described as a “stratospherically elite clique of rich, bored men looking for a hobby” now boasts 330,000 members.
You may remember Advance leading the ‘No’ campaign against an Indigenous Voice to Parliament Referendum in 2023.
Enter James Packer. You may remember the Australian billionaire for his numerous allegations of money laundering whilst managing Crown Resorts, the casinos littering Australia.
Packer’s last political donation was 12 years ago of a measly $16,500 to the Liberal Party.
Australian Electoral Commission data published last month reveals he broke the dry donation spell in 2024, donating $150,000 to Advance.
From Liberal Party to populist right-wing lobby group, the shift speaks of Australia’s conservatives travelling deeper into the right-wing tunnel.
Support for One Nation grows and more extreme rhetoric in turn becomes normalised, dividing the nation further by pushing those in the centre-right slowly to the far-right.
Donation money is being moved out of political parties that can enact tangible change, and instead invested in ideologies.
Liberal Party staffers spoke anonymously to the ABC about an “emboldened conservative flank” that was pushing for further Advance influence because of this monetary shift.
In addition to Advance’s reference to Nazism, Packer was also certainly won over by Advance’s passionate refusal of progressive taxation, an issue that saw Packer previously in the headlines attacking ex-Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
With the additional backing, Advance could continue its attacks on climate policy, immigration and Indigenous rights in Australia.
