Conservation groups have questioned why their advertisements targeting Labor politicians were pulled by Adelaide airport for breaking rules on political advertising while others promoting gas and mining kept running.
Labor politicians including the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, have been arriving through the airport for this week's ALP national conference from Thursday to Saturday.
Ads pulled or blocked
The Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance (MDCA), the Bob Brown Foundation and the Adelaide Park Lands Association said they had ads at Adelaide airport either pulled or blocked.
Senator David Pocock said the situation was "disgraceful and undemocratic" and revealed the airport had also refused to run an advert promoting a gas export tax.
MDCA's "Save the Murray" ad was appearing on rotation in an airport concourse electronic billboard and was contracted to run from 13 July until 26 July, but by the morning of 22 July the advert had disappeared.
Craig Wilkins, co-director of MDCA, said: "It was approved and paid for, and suddenly it was gone. The gas and mining adverts are still running, but ours are not."
Wilkins said the advertising agency, JCDecaux, had told the alliance that Adelaide airport had considered the ads were "too political".
Gas and mining ads continued
Pictures from the concourse which MDCA said were taken after its ad was pulled show ads on rotation from Santos, the Minerals Council of Australia and Independent Schools Australia.
An ad also on rotation featured "Australia runs on natural gas" – a campaign which, on its native website, includes a political authorisation message from Samantha McCulloch, the chief executive of Australian Energy Producers.
The Guardian understands that ad has since also been stopped. A minerals council advertisement featuring a Medicare card on the back of a mining truck was also pulled, the Guardian understands. However, an alternative advert from the council was still running.
Other groups affected
The Adelaide Park Lands Association wanted to run ads promoting its "Stop the Chop" campaign to prevent the removal of trees around the city's parks.
Mat Monti, the president of the association, said a billboard had been booked on the main exit from the airport and was due to be displayed on Tuesday. But the association was told last Friday the ad had been declined.
"Corporate interest is trumping community interest," Monti said.
The Bob Brown Foundation had ads running in four locations from 20 July to 26 July, but was told the ads would no longer appear from noon on 23 July after a decision made by the airport.
The ad showed a picture of a logged area of forest with the words: "The majority of Australians want an end to native forest logging."
The foundation received a message from JCDecaux that said "your campaign was pulled due to a request from the Adelaide Airport. As they own the land the assets are on, they have the final decision on what runs."
Bob Brown described the step as "Trump-lite behaviour" and called on Albanese to "insist that these ads, and others calling for good environmental and social outcomes, be reinstated immediately".
Political reactions
Senator Pocock said he shared "the frustration of environment groups whose advertisements have been pulled at Adelaide Airport while blatantly political ads from gas companies are permitted".
His office had tried to buy an advert at Adelaide airport "as part of my 25% gas export tax campaign" but he said it was denied and he "had to book mobile truck billboards instead".
He said: "This is a disgraceful and undemocratic situation where multinational gas companies are given free rein to push their campaigns while crowdfunded community campaigns are blocked."
The Greens senator for South Australia, Sarah Hanson-Young, said it "beggars belief" that an advert promoting a healthy Murray Darling river system was determined "too political" but adverts promoting gas companies were not.
She said the airport needed to explain how it had reached its decisions and who, if anyone, had asked for the adverts to be removed.
A spokesperson for Adelaide airport said it had "guidelines relating to advertising on billboards and digital signage on its land that is political in nature. Advertisements that do not meet these guidelines will be removed from our advertising signage."
Guardian Australia requested comment from JCDecaux.
