Bid to unmask spam group GetUp!
POLITICAL spam group GetUp! has become the target of an investigation to force the internet operation, which is bombarding Coalition senators with email, to prove it is not a front for the Labor Party.
The online operation, which has the support of union boss Bill Shorten, dotcom millionaire Evan Thornley and former Liberal leader John Hewson to raise $1.5 million, flooded Liberal and Nationals senators with email this week.
But Special Minister of State Eric Abetz claims that GetUp! - which is campaigning to keep the Senate accountable at a time when the Coalition has a majority - is a front for the ALP and has called in the Australian Electoral Commission.
If GetUp! is found to be an associated entity of a political party, it will be forced to disclose donors and expenditure.
"It is clear both from their website, their advertisements and their organisational base that getup.org.au is no more than a left-wing front designed to attack the Government, and to get around disclosure laws set up and so strongly supported by the ALP themselves," Senator Abetz said. GetUp! will launch a television campaign this weekend urging people to join the project, which sent 15,000 emails in its first week.
