Australian left-wing "true believers" used the term against supporters of the failed republic referendum of 1999, where the vote was split not along conventional party lines but socio-economic divides. The rich overwhelmingly supported the change; the less well-off were opposed. Staunch Australian right-wingers also used the term to deride those who supported what they considered "middle-class welfare"—government funding for the arts, free tertiary education, and the ABC.