The coalition government has spent almost $1 billion on media campaign advertising since it came to power, new figures show.
The finance department’s latest report on campaign advertising showed $127.9 million was spent in the 2019/20 financial year to get a wide range of government messages out to the community.
Since the 2013/14 financial year, the government has spent $913.3 million, the department report revealed.
The past financial year’s figure was down on the $140 million spent in 2018/19.
The government is required to report on all advertising campaigns where spending is expected to be over $250,000.
The spending is overseen by an independent communications committee.
Among the biggest campaigns of the year were: COVID-19 Health ($47.8 million), Defence Force Recruiting ($31.3 million), COVID-19 Economic Response ($17.7 million) and Tax and the Economy Phase 2 ($7.1 million).
The two COVID-19 related campaigns were given special exemption from guidelines on the basis of a national emergency and “extreme urgency”.
The bulk of the spending went to digital ($42 million) and television ($36.2 million), while one in eight taxpayer advertising dollars went to print publications.
