Aspiring Wodonga councillors spent a combined $8000 on Facebook advertising in an attempt to reach voters ahead of the 2020 local government election.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Party-backed candidates Simon Welsh representing Labor and Rupinder Kaur who is standing for the Greens vastly outspent their independent counterparts.
Victoria Labor paid more than $3300 for 22 ads promoting Mr Welsh, who dug into his own pocket to buy nine ads for less than or equal to $100.
The Victorian Greens spent just over $2000 promoting Rupinder Kaur's bid for council election across just five ads.
Facebook has recently made campaign spending figures available after being criticised for its lack of transparency. The figures cover the period from from August 5 and into October.
Social media ads are the only area of election spending open to scrutiny. Candidate expenses such as corflutes, print advertising and letter drops are not published.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Candidates do have to declare donations over $500. Of the 18 candidates vying for election in Wodonga, 11 embraced social media advertising.
Andrew Lees spent $765 on 11 ads, Willem Manley spent $375 on 13 ads, Ron Mildren spent $349 on seven ads, Kev Poulton spent $256 on 16 ads, Danny Chamberlain spent $195 on eight ads and Graeme Simpfendorfer spent $184 on three ads.
Danny Lowe and Rick Del Monte spent less than or equal to $100 on three and one ad respectively.
Brian Mitchell spent $264 on nine Facebook ads, while another five ads worth equal to or less than $100 ran without a disclaimer as Facebook detected they were election ads after the fact.
In Wangaratta, only four of the 15 candidates used paid Facebook advertising.
In the City ward, Jack Herry spent $492 on six ads, while Jason Bradley Townsend funded two additional ads for the candidate worth less than or equal to $100. Dave Fuller paid less than or equal to $100 for four ads and Ashlee Fitzpatrick paid less than or equal to $100 for 18 ads, plus two ads which were worth less than or equal to $100 ran without a disclaimer.
The Animal Justice Party's Charlie Vincent was the only Alpine Shire Council candidate to use paid Facebook advertising, with the party paying $331 for six ads.
In Indigo, Sue Gold and Peter Watkins each paid less than or equal to $100 for two and four ads respectively.
Digital journalists with The Border Mail.
Digital journalists with The Border Mail.
