AUSTRALIA’S ‘MINDLESS’ BORDER SECRET WEALTHRATES: AUSTRIA’s top corporate welfare department says its tax evasion department has lost track of the amount of money it has spent on lobbyists, campaign contributions and political ads, as well as its own legal defence fund, according to documents seen by The Australian Financial Review.

Advertisement The revelations came as the Government launched a massive advertising blitz in the lead-up to a crucial national election, with more than $4 million spent by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTSU) in the first fortnight of the campaign, and more than 1,000 ads in the final week.

The Coalition’s spending on political ads has surged by more than 100 per cent in the past three months, while spending on lobbyists has doubled in the same period.

A spokeswoman for Treasurer Scott Morrison said the Government’s “massive” advertising blitz had resulted in “the most significant advertising spend in Australian history”.

“It’s been a campaign where the Government has spent almost $4.5 billion and is on track to spend more than that by the end of the year,” the spokeswoman said.

“The vast majority of it has been spent on ads aimed at voters, with some of the biggest hits coming from the Coalition’s lead-out groups, and the advertising that has been funded by the ACTSU has been highly critical of the Coalition.”ACTSWU spokeswoman Stephanie Larkin said the spending was “not good for our economy” and said the department had not been able to “find a reliable source” for the figures.

“We don’t know the exact number of people the ACTsUs have spent on political advertising, but we do know the ACTSA’s lobbying spending on the election has jumped by 100 per per cent,” she said.

“The ACTSUs have been spending billions of dollars on campaigning in Australia over the past year and there is no reason to think the Government would have been able and willing to spend that money on a campaign without the knowledge and support of our members.”

Ms Larkin also said the ACTSU’s spending in the run-up had “significantly increased” since the end, when the Government cut $1.2 billion from the agency’s annual budget, effectively cutting off funding.

“This cut in funding is an absolute slap in the face for our members, and will be a real blow to the ACTU,” she added.

Labor, which has said it wants to raise the GST, has called on the Government to release details of the funding it receives from the ACSSU, but Mr Morrison has refused.

“As we all know, the ACTSPU is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Australian Government and their funding has been frozen since July 2018,” he said in a statement.

“If the Government wants to know what the money is spent on, they should tell us.”

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