Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), Aged & Community Services Australia (ACSA), the Aged Care Guild, BaptistCare and Anglicare have all been named in the media campaign, which will be led by Sydney-based crisis and reputation management firm Apollo Communications.

Apollo’s CEO Adam Connolly is best known as Prime Minister John Howard’s Media Adviser, and has also worked as an investment banker and a journalist for News Limited.

Advertising guru Geoff Denman – who worked with the late Neil Lawrence on the famed Kevin 07 campaign before leading the anti-mining tax advertisements that led to Mr Rudd’s fall and the anti-carbon tax campaign that also saw Julia Gillard pushed from the leadership – has also been linked to the push.

While LASA CEO Sean Rooney would not comment on the strategic goal of the campaign, he said:

“What the Royal Commission and COVID-19 have shown is that there is a disconnect between what the community expects of aged care and how the system is currently designed. The industry is exploring how best to get that message across to Parliamentarians from both sides of politics for the benefit of current and future older Australians.”