Labor is telling voters in Fadden that “Stuart Robert’s disgraceful robodebt destroyed lives” in a string of negative social media ads targeting the outgoing MP’s legacy before Saturday’s byelection.
Queensland Labor argues that the byelection is a chance to hold the Liberal National party accountable for robodebt in ads posted to Google and Meta’s platforms Facebook and Instagram which rolled out from Friday.
The byelection is being held to replace the retiring MP Stuart Robert, who was the government services minister from May 2019 to March 2021. The Liberal National party holds Fadden with a 10.6% two-party-preferred margin, and is expected to retain the seat due to a more loyal voter base and effective party organisational machine in Queensland.
Labor believes its $30,000 digital-only campaign has been vastly outspent by a six-figure LNP campaign featuring digital, billboard and catchup TV ads, but hopes its last-ditch effort to link the byelection to the royal commission report will encourage voters to turn against the LNP.
In one ad running since Friday, Labor urges voters: “Don’t forget why there’s a Fadden By-Election coming up on July 15. Today, the Robodebt Royal Commission handed down its report. The LNP’s Stuart Robert’s disgraceful Robodebt destroyed lives. It’s time to hold them accountable.”
According to Meta’s ad library, between $1,100 and $1,700 was spent on the ad, which reached between 145,000 and 175,000 voters.
Another ad, which launched on Monday, reads: “Don’t let the LNP fail Fadden locals again. Send them a message. Vote Letitia Del Fabbro for Labor in the Fadden By-Election this Saturday.”
The ad features a Courier-Mail headline about the “illegal” robodebt scheme, with pictures of Robert and the former prime minister Scott Morrison.
Labor’s earlier ads were a mix of positive messages about its candidate, Letitia Del Fabbro, who ran at the 2022 election, and negative ads arguing that Peter Dutton couldn’t be trusted on health – a similar message to its successful campaign in the Aston byelection in April.
Kate Flanders, Labor’s Queensland secretary, told Guardian Australia: “Del Fabbro is an excellent candidate with high integrity. The voters of Fadden deserve better than Stuart Robert.
“It speaks to the LNP’s record when you see the outcome of [the] robodebt royal commission report, which is absolutely damning of the conduct of that government.
“We hope that the voters of Fadden take that into account and send them a message.”
The LNP has campaigned mainly on the cost of living and crime, with its negative ads featuring the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk.
On Wednesday, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) revealed it was concerned about low turnout in early voting, with just 16,000 ballots cast by Monday compared to 22,000 at the same stage of the 2022 election.
The AEC commissioner, Tom Rogers, said that “by-elections have traditionally had fewer people participate than in a full federal election but it’s just as important to have your say”.
“The early voting numbers we’re seeing are down by approximately 27% based on the same period in the 2022 federal election,” he said in a statement. “Typically, if someone casts their vote early in one election, they’ll do so in the next one as well – and we’re not quite seeing that here which makes us worry about low participation.”
At Labor’s campaign launch on 27 June, Albanese told supporters the reason for the beylection is that “Stuart Robert is resigning from parliament having presided over one of the most shocking and cruel failures in the history of Australian politics: robodebt”.
“Ripping the humanity out of human services,” he said. “Stripping the social justice from social security. Targeting vulnerable people – and bragging about it.”
Robert has appeared to rule himself out of being a subject of a referral by the royal commission for civil or criminal action, saying he has “not received a notice of inclusion in the ‘sealed section’”.
The royal commission rejected Robert’s claims that he was obliged to publicly defend the scheme in its dying days, concluding that he had made “statements of fact as to the accuracy of debts, citing statistics which he knew could not be right”.
But Robert welcomed the report and its “sensible recommendations”, describing himself as “the minister that worked hard to get the legal advice and close down the income compliance scheme”.
Morrison has said he “completely” rejects adverse findings, claiming they were “wrong, unsubstantiated and contradicted by clear documentary evidence presented to the commission”.
As the minister who brought the robodebt proposal to cabinet, Morrison said he had “acted in good faith and on clear and deliberate department advice that no legislation was required to introduce the scheme”.
