Better Australia

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Better Australia
Formation2024;2 years ago (2024)
PurposeAnti-Greens and anti-teal campaigning
Headquarters Sydney, Australia
Website www.betteraustralia.org

Better Australia is an Australian political advocacy group established in the lead-up to the 2025 Australian federal election to campaign against teal independents and the Australian Greens.

Contents

History

The group was first formed as Better Council in 2024. [1] The group campaigned in the 2024 New South Wales local elections, opposing the pro-Palestine stances taken by Greens councillors. Group spokesperson Sophie Calland, a member of the Labor Party, argued that local politicians should focus on their own communities, rather than spending “valuable time and resources” debating “international issues like Gaza”. [1]

Better Australia has also been accused of being pro-Israel lobbyists interfering in Australian local elections, with ties between organisers and Israel being questioned. [2] It's organization has been described as "opaque" by The Australian Financial Review, [3]

2024 local elections

Better Council focused their efforts on three council areas in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, — Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick. [1] The Greens in all three municipalities lost three seats in these municipalities. [a] [4] [ citation needed ]

2025 federal election

Rebranding as Better Australia, the group began campaigning in the months before the 2025 federal election, with ad tracking data showed Better Australia spent $373,209 on social media advertising from March 28 to May 3 of 2025. [5]

Spokesperson Sophie Calland told the Guardian that Better Australia’s campaign is non-partisan, and that “[w]e are not advocating for a particular major party but against the Greens, teals and other minor party candidates across the country.” Journalist Wendy Bacon claimed that the group was receiving campaigning advice from former Liberal staffers and strategists, while Calland herself is a registered member of the Labor Party. [5] [6]

Better Australia ran an extensive campaign against teal candidates, focusing on Wentworth in Sydney and Goldstein in Melbourne, as well as targeting Greens-held seats including Brisbane and Melbourne. Teal Zoe Daniel lost re-election, as did three of the four sitting Greens MPs, including party leader Adam Bandt. [5] The group claimed responsibility for the results, saying that their ads were seen over 43 million times in 13 target 13 seats. [7]

Better Australia representatives wearing yellow vests similar to those worn by election workers showed up at polling places prior to and on election day 2025. [8] [9] [10] They were reported to the Australian Electoral Commission due to the resemblance between the yellow vests worn by the group's volunteers while handing out anti-teal pamphlets in the independent-held seat of Kooyong, and the official yellow vests worn by election workers. [8] However, the AEC determined that because the group's vests feature a Better Australia logo, no rules were broken. [8] Rachel Dexter, a journalist writing for the Sydney MorningHerald, suggested that Better Australia's vest design was an attempt to confuse voters. [8]

Notes

  1. ↑ Central Ward in Randwick, Lawson Ward in Waverley, and Cooper Ward in Woollahra

References

  1. 1 2 3 McLeod, Catie; Rachwani, Mostafa (10 September 2024). "Roads, rates, rubbish – and war? How foreign conflict could influence NSW's local council elections". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  2. ↑ Bacon, Wendy (12 September 2024). "Just 'Rubbish & Rates', or is the Israel war lobby interfering in Australia's local elections?". Michael West. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  3. ↑ Mizen, Ronald (29 April 2025). "Opaque activist group in anti-teal ad blitz to lure shy Libs". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  4. ↑ "Waverley Council election results - Waverley Council". Waverley. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 Canales, Sarah Basford; Belot, Henry (9 May 2025). "'We have destroyed the Greens': third-party groups spent millions on ads to influence Australian voters. Some claim it worked". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  6. ↑ Bacon, Wendy; Aharon, Yaakov (22 April 2025). "Dark Money: Labor and Liberal join forces in attacks on Teals and Greens". Michael West Media. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  7. ↑ "Better Australia Campaign | Stronger Choices. For a Better Australia | Federal election 2025". Better Australia. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Dexter, Cara Waters, Clay Lucas, Charlotte Grieve, Rachael (3 May 2025). "Far-right agitators turn up to pre-poll voting booth in Brighton; Safi's NDIS business faces watchdog probe: Victoria's hot seats week 5 as it happened". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 October 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Bogle, Ariel (24 April 2025). "Third-party groups targeting teals in key seats swarm pre-poll areas in NSW and Victoria". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  10. ↑ Crowe, Nick Newling, Olivia Ireland, Alex (28 April 2025). "Federal election 2025 as it happened: Dutton faces inflation rate gotcha; Welcome to Country debate dominates campaign". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 1 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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