GetUp Launches Two-Year Campaign Targeting One Nation Record

GetUp plans to spend the next two years publicising One Nation’s record on wages, healthcare, cost of living and workers’ rights rather than concentrating spending in the final weeks of election campaigns. The organisation’s acting chief executive Paul Ferris said research after the Farrer by-election showed 48 per cent of One Nation voters had decided their vote in the first weeks of that campaign, before GetUp ran any advertisements.

protest and immediate reaction Seventeen minutes into Pauline Hanson’s address to the National Press Club, a yellow banner reading “I opposed a pay rise for workers while I took a $100,000 pay rise for myself” was unfurled behind the stage. Security removed the banner and Hanson continued speaking.

Ferris said the protest was intended to reach voters who do not closely examine parliamentary voting records. A police investigation into the incident is under way.

Fundraising and organisational changes GetUp reported more than $1 million in donations in the month after the protest, its highest monthly total since 2022, and added 1,500 new monthly donors. The group also attracted more than 10 million views across social media.

Ferris has hired additional campaign staff, launched a “Fightback Fund” aimed at One Nation, expanded digital operations and recruited former journalist David Sharaz to assist with media strategy.

GetUp’s recent performance Donations to GetUp fell to $4.1 million in 2024-25, down from almost $6 million the previous year and well below the $12.4 million raised before the 2019 election, according to corporate filings reported by The Australian. Ferris said the group expects to lose campaigns as often as it wins them but views silence on One Nation as an unviable option.