It was 2003 when Howard era Minister, Amanda Vanstone, dropped an infamous clanger in a media interview about a Budget tax cut.

“Five dollars. Hell, what will it buy them? A sandwich and a milkshake if you are lucky. Not much,” the South Australian senator thundered – much to the consternation of her Cabinet colleagues because it was a Liberal-National Budget.

In 2016, Labor’s Bill Shorten was livid that tax cuts handed down by Malcom Turnbull’s Government only averaged just $6 a week for people earning $80,000 a year.

“That’s not much. I’m not going to insult the intelligence of people and say that’s a reason to go out and buy a Tatts ticket. But we will back that particular change in, because we are on the side of people at work every day,” said the man now earning $860,000 a year as the head of a Canberra University.

Fast forward to 2025 and the Albanese Government is handing out tax cuts of…$5 a week. Is that enough to buy a cup of coffee?

Not in the once down-at-heel but now gentrified Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, where Primary is based. You’ll pay up to six bucks, with the notable exception of The Balkan Butler in Foveaux Street where a regular cup comes in at $4.80.

There’s no way you’ll buy a milkshake. At the salubrious Keg and Brew Hotel, a fiver won’t get you a whiff of the froth on top of a schooner of Resch’s.

Bill Shorten backed in the 2016 cuts despite saying they were designed for millionaires. That’s the kind of thing that politicians do. This time around, the Coalition is Just Saying No. At the time of writing, the Government is forcing the Opposition’s hand by trying to make the cuts law before it calls an election.

Reality is that whatever goes down at Parliament House over the rest of this week will go largely unnoticed by the people whose hearts, minds and votes all sides of politics so desperately want to win.

Craig Regan, Senior Account Director, Primary Communication

Earned media is the free publicity your brand gets from media coverage, glowing customer reviews, social media shout-outs, and old-fashioned word-of-mouth. It’s that recognition your brand “earns” without spending money.

Unlike paid media, where you’re in full control of the message and promotion, earned media relies on how well your brand resonates with others to get noticed by independent sources or publications.

So, why is earned media so priceless? Simply put it helps to build trust.

Consumers tend to believe personal recommendations and third-party endorsements more than they do traditional ads. This trust factor is exactly what makes earned media so powerful in shaping a brand’s reputation. After all, people are more likely to pay attention to a friend’s glowing review or a mention in the media than they are to a sponsored post or ad.

On the flip side, paid media involves putting your money where your mouth to promote content through ads, sponsored posts, or partnerships. This type of media lets you control the message, the timing, and target your audience, making it ideal for quick visibility, product awareness, or boosting sales. However, its success still hinges on having top-notch content and pinpointing the right audience.

As far as we are concerned, a winning media strategy blends both earned and paid media. Paid media gets the word out quickly, especially for product launches or flash promotions, while earned media builds long-term credibility and trust. By combining the two, you can also strengthen relationships with media outlets, who thrive on both advertising revenue and earned media coverage. When you amplify earned media with paid promotions, it can ensure your press coverage reaches your targeted audience.

After three decades in the media game, we’ve picked up a few tips for making the most of both earned and paid media:

1. Use paid media to amplify key announcements: pair important news with paid media partnerships to expand your reach and target the right audience.
2. Support major campaigns with advertisements: for larger campaigns, combine earned media coverage with paid ads, like a background ad on a webpage, to boost visibility.
3. Retarget earned media audience: serve paid ads to users who engage with earned media, helping move them further down the funnel (for example, inviting them to a webinar or offering a discount).
4. Combine influencers and editorial: a mix of media coverage and influencer endorsements expands your reach and boosts credibility.
5. Repurpose earned content for paid ads: transform PR stories or press releases into ad-friendly formats like videos or blog posts to maximise their lifespan.

When you master the art of blending earned and paid media, you’ll create a strategy that builds trust, drives action, and amplifies your brand’s reach.

Mary-Anne Boustany, Account Director, Primary Communication

Forget the cost of living and energy prices. Donald Trump is the real wild card in the forthcoming Federal election.

Be concerned about foreign interference laws and all those shadowy online actors, but The Orange Man can, and probably will, become an issue at any time.

Consider Trump’s war on tariffs. The Government’s failure to secure Australia an exemption from Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs probably was a done deal long ago, but we export very little of both to the US anyway.

On the other hand, if Trump moves his attention to pharmaceuticals, the result will be an enormous political migraine for the Albanese Government. Australia exports about $1 billion of medicines to the US each year. Health and life sciences account for one of our largest export sectors, employing about 260,000 people. In the 12 months to February 2024, medicinal and pharmaceutical imports from all nations came close to $1.7 billion.

Next Tuesday’s Federal Budget will contain a lot of bragging about listings of drugs on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). These listings on the $17 billion a year scheme are recommendations by an expert committee of eminent professors who are independent of government.

They are usually rubber stamped by Cabinets of both political persuasions who then take all the credit that goes with announcing them.

Overseas pharma companies hate subsidised medicines but go along with the system to ensure they have access to markets.

Australian taxpayers pay an average of $85 to subsidise the cost of each prescription.

If Trump decides the world is exporting too many medicines into America and imposes tariffs, the result will be unaffordable prescription drugs for millions of Australian voters.

The Opposition will pour blame on a government whose calls the Trump administration wouldn’t take.

Labor knows it looks weak when it doesn’t stand up to Trump but doesn’t want to give US policy hawks an excuse to tear up the AUKUS agreement.

Polling by Talbot Mills Research in February found about half of Australians disapprove of Trump’s performance, with 34 percent strongly disapproving. If the USA slips into recession and has a knock-on effect for Australian superannuation balances, that will soar.

If the trade wars extend to medicines, expect the Albanese Government to come out swinging and the Opposition to cry blue murder.

Craig Regan, Senior Account Director, Primary Communication

It’s a truism as old as democracy itself: Politics is all about perception, not facts, and our interminable wait for a Federal election has starkly illustrated that.
The last four months have been a political vacuum. On one hand, we’ve had a small target Opposition holding back on releasing policies for fear of the Government using its incumbency to pick them to pieces.

On the other, the Government has been trying to gather much needed momentum and lift its primary vote to give itself some hope of governing in its own right, while attempting to govern.
Prime Minister Albanese took a major misstep before Christmas by purchasing a $4.3 million clifftop home while a cost-of-living crisis was raging.

It’s not that politicians aren’t allowed to have nice things – Greens and independents top the Parliamentary register for numbers of properties owned – but Albo’s position as PM and perceived failure to pass something called a Pub Test set a bored media running.

As Australia awoke from its summer stupor, it became about Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s purchase of bank shares during the Global Financial Crisis. No matter that nobody could show evidence of insider knowledge or that nobody had noticed in the intervening 15 years.

The Opposition invoked the words “dirt unit” knowing full well that they would have done the same if they’d had the ammunition ready.

Days later, the focus shifted to the Dutton family’s property portfolio and their flipping of 26 investments in three decades. You can bet that the messages behind this one had been validated in focus groups of swinging voters.

It all builds a picture of an Opposition leader disconnected from the middle-class voters he seeks to court. The challenge is making people recall the issue when the election campaign starts for real.

More recent damage has been self-inflicted. Peter Dutton’s pre-Cyclone Alfred dash from his marginal seat of Dickson to the opulent Vaucluse pad of billionaire Justin Hemmes for a lucrative fund-raiser echoed Scott Morrison’s ill-timed Hawaiian holiday.

That it was four days before the day a downgraded Alfred crawled across the Queensland coast and Dutton was back before Prime Minister Albanese fled the target zone for Canberra didn’t matter.
The subsequent Newspoll showed that those voter perceptions of caviar and canapes could still do more damage to the Dutton campaign than a month of crappy weather.

Craig Regan, Senior Account Director, Primary Communication

This year marks a significant milestone in Australia’s history. 60 years since the Freedom Ride, a moment that reshaped the country’s civil rights landscape. In 1965, Charles Perkins and a group of University of Sydney students embarked on a bus journey through rural New South Wales to expose the systemic racism and dire living conditions faced by Aboriginal people. Their brave efforts ignited national and international attention, pushing for social change and equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Charles Perkins’ leadership didn’t stop at the Freedom Ride. In 1984, he made history as the first Aboriginal person to lead an Australian Government department, becoming the Secretary of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. His journey and legacy have left a mark on the path toward reconciliation.

To commemorate the 60th anniversary, our CEO, Chris Hall, attended the Freedom Ride Ball hosted by the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council (MLALC) in collaboration with Uncle Phillip Hall. The event brought together community leaders, elders, and advocates to honour the Freedom Ride’s legacy and continue the conversation around reconciliation in Australia. It was a powerful gathering that allowed for reflection on how far we’ve come, and how much further we must go.

The stories shared during the event were truly inspirational, reminding everyone of the courage it took to stand up against injustice. The evening also served as a significant reminder of the Freedom Ride’s crucial role in shaping the 1967 referendum, which led to important constitutional changes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

We would like to thank MLALC for hosting such a meaningful event and for providing the opportunity to catch up with key figures like Uncle Michael West. It was incredibly moving to hear from participants of the Freedom Ride, including Jim Spiegelman, recognised and celebrated during the night. Their voices and experiences remain an essential part of Australia’s ongoing journey toward equality and reconciliation.

The impact of the Freedom Ride continues to resonate. Here’s to honouring its legacy and forging a path forward together.

Earlier this year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would end its US fact-checking program, replacing it with a “Community Notes” system. This shift allows users to flag potentially misleading posts and provide additional context, aiming to empower the community to address misinformation directly on the platform.
With this relaxation of policy, Dunedin NZ has taken the opportunity with a tongue in cheek post to claim the most liveable place in New Zealand [and we think so it should!!].

Meta has stated that independent fact-checking units in Australia will continue their efforts. However, it noted that “before rolling out any changes to our fact-checking program outside the US, we will carefully consider our obligations in each country, including Australia.”

This change reflects a broader trend in social media content moderation, where platforms are turning to community-driven models to manage misinformation.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and other regulatory bodies have been monitoring misinformation on digital platforms, with the federal government considering stronger intervention if voluntary measures prove insufficient. Considering Australia’s stance on combating digital misinformation, a move by Meta to change its approach here will likely face significant scrutiny.

Any shift in social media regulation and platform policies could directly impact your communication strategies, audience reach, and brand credibility. Here’s how to navigate these changes effectively:

Monitor regulatory developments
Keep up to date with announcements from ACMA or other authorities regarding changes to social media regulations in Australia. Understanding these shifts will help proactively adjust your PR and communication strategies.

Strengthen internal fact-checking
Double down on your content verification processes to prevent misinformation affecting brand reputation.

Leverage multiple platforms
Too much reliance on anyone platform is a risk should they change their terms and conditions, their algorithm on you or your account gets blocked. Diversifying across multiple social media channels is a risk reduction strategy.

Engage with trusted sources
Partner with reputable news organisations, industry experts and professional associations to reinforce brand messaging with credible, fact-based information.

Encourage audience fact-checking
Educate your audience on identifying misinformation and promote engagement with trusted sources. This helps build a more informed and resilient community around your brand.

Chris Hall, Chief Executive Officer, Primary Comms Group

Backed by a significant funding round, Semperis is strengthening its commitment to helping Australian businesses protect their critical cybersecurity environments. Its innovative solutions address the growing challenges of identity security in today’s digital landscape.

Since partnering with Semperis in November, Primary has already achieved incredible media traction, delivering coverage in Sky News, The Australian Financial Review, and other tier 1 trade and security publications.

We’re excited to be working with the team at Semperis, helping them continue driving success in the ANZ market!

With a proven track record, our IT comms specialists will make great things happen.

Get in touch if we can help.