We believe the opinion article by Nick Cater ‘Want honesty in politics? Teals should ditch the big spending hypocrisy’, published in the Australian Newspaper on 7 April, 2025, does not uphold the Press Council’s Statement of General Principals – Fairness and Balance. Section 3 states that writers must “Ensure that factual material is presented with reasonable fairness and balance, and that writers’ expressions of opinion are not based on significantly inaccurate factual material or omission of key facts.”
There are several factually incorrect and unsubstantiated statements in the article that we will address below.
- That Gazette News is a “sham news organisation” and “propaganda machine”
- That Teal Independents are more responsible “than any other group” for “the arrival of big-money US-style electioneering in Australia”
- That the renewable energy sector in Australia is running a “pernicious disinformation campaign”
That Gazette News is a “sham news organisation” and “propaganda machine”
This is false. Gazette News has been cleared by the Australian Electoral Commission of allegations it broke the rules on political advertising. In its ruling the AEC made clear that Gazette News met the definition of genuine editorial content. This information is omitted from the article.
That Teal Independents are more responsible “than any other group” for “the arrival of big-money US-style electioneering in Australia”
This is false. It is well known that Clive Palmer is the biggest single electoral advertiser in Australia. His United Australia Party spent a record $120 million in 2022 election and has promised to spend more in the 2025 election. This information is omitted from the article.
That the renewable energy sector in Australia is running a “pernicious disinformation campaign”
This is false. Cater suggests that Climate 200 and Gazette News are linked to the renewables industry, but he gives no proof of this. He also gives no proof that any companies involved in wind, solar or other renewable energies are running, or have run, disinformation campaigns.
