A new far-right, anti-Islamic political party is crying foul after it allegedly had advertisements rejected by a number of News Corporation’s digital publications.
In a video posted online, President of the Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA) Debbie Robertson hit-out at the Murdoch-owned company for refusing to run an advertisement publicising a tour by her and other ALA candidates.
Robinson begins the video by recounting advice she has received from ALA supporters.
“You should be advertising,” she quotes, humming as if deep in thought.
“On that point you’re quite correct, we should be advertising, but it’s not that simple,” Robinson says. “Last week an Australian Liberty Alliance advertisement, that was scheduled to run over a 14-day period to promote our national tour, was rejected by News Limited. With the exception of the Telegraph, which is NSW-based, the ad was rejected by News Australia and all other affiliated publications online.”
“According to the market manager the advertisement, which was subject to ‘a few meetings, and reached the highest echelons of management’, was not accepted, because, and here’s the reason I was given, ‘it does not fit with our brand’.”
Not so according to The Daily Telegraph though, which did run the ad, featuring an image of Robinson and fellow ALA candidates, across its website in late February.
Robinson told New Matilda she had hoped the advertisement would run nation-wide, with the ALA troupe set to stop off in Brisbane, Darwin, and WA. She said she had “no idea” why the Tele would give the piece a run on its website but other news outlets wouldn’t.
A spokesperson for News Corp Australia declined to comment.
In December 2015, the ALA had a similar advertisement run on page 3 of The Weekend Australian, with bold font above an image of their three major candidates declaring: “We will stop the Islamisation of Australia”.
But Robinson, who is top of the Party’s WA Senate ticket and co-founded the anti-Muslim Q Society, appears to have lost her faith in News Corp.
“News Australia has under its logo five words. It says: ‘the power of the people’. I say: what a load of garbage.”
News Limited: Limiting Freedom Of Expression from Australian Liberty Alliance on Vimeo.
Other ALA candidates include Bernard Gaynor, the former Katter’s Australia Party candidate who was sacked by the Defence Force in 2013 after saying he wouldn’t want a “gay person” teaching his child (the sacking is now subject to a legal challenge), and Kirralie Smith, a major source of energy behind the Australian anti-Halal movement.