‘Independent’ group Energy for Australians that ran anti-Labor ads received more than $1m from coal lobby | Energy

An “independent, community-focused charity” that ran anti-Labor adverts during the last federal election was entirely funded by a coal industry lobby group, the Guardian has revealed.

Energy for Australians accepted more than $1 million from Coal Australia, a coal advocacy group whose members include leading miners such as Yancoal, Peabody, New Hope and Whitehaven.

An expert on climate and energy lobbying said the Australians for Energy campaign “has all the hallmarks of astroturfing”, a form of lobbying in which groups are backed by corporate interests while claiming to be community-led.

The group spent $135,620 on 62 Facebook ads focused on energy costs in the weeks leading up to the 2025 federal election, according to figures in Meta’s ad library.

People who saw the ads, which received at least 3.5 million views, were told to “shut down Labor” and “if you can’t afford power, you can’t afford Labor”.

Disclosures to the Australian Electoral Commission show Energy for Australias was a “significant third party” and declared $1,083,061 in income from donors and $803,495 in election expenses, all from Coal Australia.

One Energy for Australians website archive It shows that the organization – which is no longer online – describes itself as “an independent, community-focused association dedicated to achieving energy independence through a practical mix of nuclear, coal, gas and renewable technologies.”

Prof Christian Downie, an expert on coordinated campaigns to thwart climate action at the Australian National University, said Energy for Australias “has all the hallmarks of astroturfing because its name and description gives the impression that it is a legitimate community group, when in reality it is a front group directly funded by Coal Australia.”

Downie said organizations such as Energy for Australias were being used “to mislead the public and political leaders” by “creating the false impression that there was widespread support or opposition for an issue or policy”.

“This type of astroturf has now become a common feature skewing Australian election campaigns,” he said.

Claire Snyder, chief executive of Climate Integrity, a group campaigning for transparency on corporate climate and energy issues, said it was “not at all obvious” to anyone who saw the advert that it was funded by a coal industry group.

“If companies aren’t going to post these ideas on their own social media accounts, why are they funding these ads? To Australians, Energy is an unknown brand. We now know who pays for partisan political ads,” he said.

A cross-party inquiry in the Senate last month said the government should “explore ways” to ensure greater transparency in political campaigns, including the creation of third-party groups such as Energy for Australians funded by corporate interests.

Energy for Australias is registered as an incorporated society in NSW and its public officer is Sydney accountant Samuel Lee, who allows advertising to be made using the same address as his company, Atlas Chartered Accountants.

The Guardian sent questions to Samuel Lee about the organisation’s structure and whether its claim to independence was fair.

Lee told the Guardian he was “not part of Energy for Australians” and therefore would not answer questions about the funding of the advertising campaign. He said Energy for Australias was our customer but refused to forward questions or make any contact.

He said: “Regarding the authorization of the campaign material, they gave me material to review, I did a discreet check, Googled a few claims and facts to make sure it wasn’t obviously false, made sure there was nothing violent or sexually explicit and it was then approved.

“I never needed to send anything back. I had no other input or control.”

A spokesperson for Coal Australia said donations to third parties were “intended to provide fact-based awareness and discussion about Australia’s energy policies and other issues”.

The spokesman said Coal Australia had “no relationship” with Samuel Lee. Coal Australia told the Senate inquiry that “not only are we not engaging in so-called astroturfing activity, but we also do not believe it is working”.

Coal Australia has become a major funder of third party political campaigns.

The group heavily funded Australians for Prosperity, which ran ads attacking Labor, the Greens and independent candidates in the last federal election.

During the Queensland state election, Coal Australia gave $600,000 to a Liberal-leaning think tank that ran state election ads attacking the Greens.