Correction: An original version of this article stated the Liberal Party had halted all ads across TV, radio and print, according to Nielsen. However, Nielsen has since identified a print ad from the Liberal Party, bringing its spend to $10,000.
The Liberal Party’s spend on election advertising across TV, radio and print remains dampened, according to analysis by Nielsen.
The latest election ad spend numbers from Nielsen show the Liberal Party spent just $10,000 last week, while the Labor Party outlayed $40,000.
The big spender, Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, spent $1.5 million, about the same as the week before.
Palmer has spent around $28.5 million since he announced in September his bid for re-election to the federal parliament.
This is more than the $16 million spent by major parties for the entire election campaign of 2016, according to Nielsen.
In just the last four weeks, Palmer has spent an estimated $7 million to the Liberal Party’s $1.58 million and Labor’s $1.59 million.
Both the major parties have been winding down their spend over the last couple of weeks, reserving resources for the fight to come when the poll date is known and the official campaign gets going.
The Coalition Government has the advantage of being able to use government resources in advertising campaign to explain, for example, coming tax cuts. That ends when an election date is called and the government goes into caretaker mode.
The Labor Opposition has accused the government of delaying the election to the last possible moment so it can keep using government money to spruik the Coalition's achievements.
Labor claims the government is spending $600,000 a day on taxpayer funded ads, a claim denied by the Coalition.
When an election is called the government enters caretaker mode which means all advertising is reviewed by the departments of Finance, and Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison can call the election next Monday, 15 April, for a 18 May poll.
Nielsen's latest election spend estimates:
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