The Liberal Nationals have today called on the Andrews Labor Government to suspend its multi-million dollar, self-promotional advertising spend and put the money towards COVID-19 information and increasing testing and vaccination sites.
While figures on its infrastructure build advertising campaign is kept under wraps, it’s understood that the Labor Government spends around $10 million on radio and TV ads to promote projects still years away from completion.
The Liberal Nationals believe this self-promotional campaign needs to be put on hold, even if just for a couple of months, and diverted into improving access to COVID-19 testing, vaccination and improving contact tracing.
At a time when Victorians are on edge, we need a government that puts politics aside and ensures that people have the latest COVID-19 information made available when they need it and where they need it.
Now is not the time to be spending millions of dollars of promoting projects still years off; now is the time to make sure all Victorians are kept informed and safe.
Comments attributable to Leader of the Opposition, Michael O’Brien:
“Every time we see a self-promotional government advertisement, that’s an ad that could have been telling somebody how to get vaccinated or where to get tested, or it’s money that could have gone into more testing sites.
“I’m pleading with the government, suspend your promotional campaigns and put that money into public health.
“It’s what we really need to do to get on top of this. If this government is serious about public health instead of political spin, it would suspend its multi-million dollar spend on promoting projects that are still years off being completed.”
