This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A Liberal Senate candidate is helping to operate a self-styled “grassroots” retiree campaign against Labor’s franking credits policy, which has taken out paid newspaper and Facebook ads, conducted targeted campaigns in Peter Dutton’s electorate, and made submissions to parliament.

The Defenders of Self Funded Retirees was set up in mid-2018 and bills itself as a community group “created by people incensed by Labor’s attack on people who had saved for the [sic] retirement”.

The group has taken out newspaper ads, paid for Facebook ads, built a professional website, and doorknocked, distributed postcards, and letterboxed in marginal seats. It has conducted targeted campaigns in Dutton’s electorate of Dickson and in Longman, ahead of last year’s by-election.

PM under pressure to sack Tim Wilson over use of franking credits inquiry Read more

The group has also helped funnel people to a controversial website opposing the policy, associated with Tim Wilson, the chair of a parliamentary inquiry into Labor’s planned changes. It also pushes people to a petition against Labor’s policy by Wilson Asset Management, a firm run by Tim Wilson’s distant relative and in which the Liberal MP owns shares.

Nowhere does the Defenders of Self Funded Retirees group disclose any link to the Liberal party. In its submission to Wilson’s parliamentary inquiry, it says it was formed by a “group of retirees who saw the need to encourage individuals to actively defend themselves and their interests in the face of a growing tide of demonisation”.

But Guardian Australia can reveal that Robert Gunning, a current Liberal candidate for the Senate, has helped to organise the group’s activities. He has published Facebook posts as an administrator from the group’s account, which warn of Labor’s “tidal wave of taxes” and accuse the opposition of wanting to “drive people to Labor’s union funds”.

Records filed with the corporate regulator show the group is owned by Andrew Higginson, who also runs HGH Consulting, a Canberra-based lobbying firm, and two other men.

The group appears to have accidentally disclosed Gunning’s role in publishing on Facebook by taking screenshots of the Facebook posts and reproducing them on their website.

In doing so, they have displayed the individual Facebook group member who published individual posts from the Defenders of Self Funded Retirees account.

Gunning is listed as the person who registered a domain name associated with the group’s contact email address.

Gunning’s mobile number is also listed as the general contact number for the group, both in its submission to parliament and on its Facebook page. His name is not listed alongside the contact number, either on Facebook or the submission.

When Guardian Australia first called the number, Gunning would not disclose his identity, only saying he was working with the group and was an “enthusiastic” supporter.

Contact was made again after Gunning’s identity and his involvement in the group became clear. Gunning later issued a statement through the Canberra Liberals saying he was “proud to have been involved in a grassroots organisation that is standing up for hard-working Australians” who had saved for their retirement.

“Just like hundreds of thousands of Australians, I have been concerned about Labor’s $45bn tax on retirees since the day it was announced,” Gunning said. “Just like many candidates in every election, I am excited to have the opportunity to stand as a candidate to make sure the voices of my local community are heard.”

Guardian Australia is not suggesting Gunning is responsible for all the group’s activities, or that the group does not contain genuine grassroots campaigners.

Arthur Smith, a retiree who will be affected by the policy, works alongside the group and speaks out against Labor’s plans. Smith said he had helped hand out brochures alongside Gunning on Bribie Island during the Longman byelection campaign.

“I think he’s been influential in just sort of making sure it’s kept on going,” he said. “He seems to know who’s who and he’s got a few contacts around the place.”

Smith said he found out Gunning was a Liberal candidate two weeks ago, but was not surprised.

The Facebook ads paid for by the Defenders of Self Funded Retirees also fail to give proper authorisation disclosing who is behind them. The University of Queensland professor Graeme Orr, an expert in the regulation of democracy, said the ads were clearly electoral matter and, as paid ads, should contain authorisations.

“When contained in a paid ‘advertisement’ it has to be authorised by the proper ‘notifying entity’,” he said.

The revelations about the Defenders of Self Funded Retirees come after Labor demanded Wilson be sacked for alleged conflicts of interest and a “massive breach” of parliamentary conventions.

Wilson is the chair of a current inquiry into the Labor policy, but at the same time set up a website allowing people to register to attend public hearings and send submissions opposing the Labor policy. The site carried an authorisation by Wilson in his capacity as the chairman of the standing committee on economics. The website was privately funded by an undisclosed source.

New evidence emerged on Wednesday showing the Liberal MP had coordinated with the chairman of Wilson Asset Management, Geoff Wilson, a vocal opponent of the Labor policy, to coincide protest activity with hearings of the committee.