Construction union CFMEU launches #realtradies counter attack ad
Amid an online debate over the authenticity of the tradie in a new Liberal Party attack ad, the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union has fired back with its own ‘real tradie’ ad.
The ad, which begins with construction workers holding signs reading: “Dear Malcolm, your #faketradie ad is terrible”, targets the Coalition over a range of policies including wages policy, training for young people, immigration and Medicare.
The one-and-a-half-minute online ad was posted last night with Victorian CFMEU state secretary John Setka, tweeting: “Malcolm Turnbull left something out of his dodgy ad, #RealTradies. Here is their response”.
Malcolm Turnbull left something out of his dodgy ad, #RealTradies . Here is their response. #ausvotes #faketradie https://t.co/eCvBjfIFwK
— John Setka (@CFMEUJohnSetka) June 20, 2016
The controversy comes as the Liberal Party was yesterday forced to defend its newest attack ad which feature a man on a building site in construction clothes questioning Labor on its economic policies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I0wae57nJ0
Shortly after airing, the ad drew criticism with many people questioning whether the man in the ad was a real tradesperson, and Twitter users launching the hashtag #faketradie.
Speculation that the man was an actor led the Liberal Party yesterday to issue a statement saying: “We are very pleased that people are talking about this ad which highlights the risks of Bill Shorten’s war on business. The tradie is real, unlike Mr Shorten’s claims about Medicare.”
The tradie in question was, according to the caller, a boilermaker who was brought in by the Liberal Party to the building site a couple of weeks ago, complete with props including the saw-horse, but was not working on the site himself.
Update 10am – Fake tradie has been reveal. Daily Mail Australia journalist Daniel Piotrowski found the “fake tradie”, who is in fact 50-year-old Andrew MacRae who lives in a modest home in Lane Cove.
MacRae is in fact a tradie who even provided his NSW government contractor’s licence to prove the point.
I went to an AGM for all the major Unions in Australia the other day, and I can say the whole thing was fake. It was full of saboteurs and provocateurs paid by big corporations ( in my opinion ) to control and derail the meeting. I have never seen something so fake in my entire life. There was only a handful of genuine speakers and they knew what was happening. I often thought how they felt about the whole situation, but I couldn’t get near them. What the hell is happening to Australia? Has the CIA got their dirty paws on it again? Just like the pre Gough Whitlam days?
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