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The Guardian
10-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Labor's clean sweep in Australian election suggests young male voters are bucking global trends. But why?
When UFC president Dana White appeared on stage for Donald Trump's victory address, he credited a string of controversial male influencers – the Nelk Boys, Theo Von, Adin Ross and the 'mighty and powerful' Joe Rogan – for the Republican win. Six months later, Anthony Albanese took Labor to a landslide victory in Australia, claiming the scalps of the Coalition and Greens leaders in the process. Albanese, too, actively courted content creators. But there were major differences. For one, some were women. And they were largely progressive. For the first time, millennials and gen Z voters, comprising 47% of the electorate, overtook baby boomers this federal election as the largest voting bloc. Experts say Labor's clean sweep goes against trends seen across parts of the west, Asia and Africa in which young male voters are increasingly leaning towards the right. And the content creators could be playing a significant role. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Hannah Ferguson, 26, is head of independent news commentary page Cheek Media Co and co-host of the Big Small Talk podcast, both aimed at younger audiences. She says Australia's election felt like a 'battle of influence'. 'Murdoch media were projecting the Coalition to win and endorsing them, and it felt like I was in this bubble where I had to prove myself and push my audience to believe they were the change-makers,' she says. Ferguson says she has often been asked why'all the influencers in Australia are progressive'. She says that, excluding Fox News, America's mainstream media is perceived as left wing, allowing influencers to position themselves against the 'establishment'. While Australian influencers are also responding to 'the establishment', she notes it's in a media 'heavily dominated by Murdoch'. 'The commentators who have risen up in this election are the ones challenging the far-right establishment of media in this country,' she says. In that sense, she suggests, Trump was the Coalition's 'worst asset'. 'There's been this belief that men vote based on economic policy, on reason, and women vote emotionally based on social policy, and that divide has been driven and entrenched by the US,' Ferguson says. 'What we saw in Australia … is that positioning is harmful. Across the gender spectrum, Australians said 'we see through the establishment, we see through the kind of divide the Coalition are pushing, and they're not giving us any policy'. 'Australia still has issues with hatred and division, but this election showed you can't run on woke culture wars, because people will reject you.' Prof Philippa Collin, a social scientist at Western Sydney University, says there's 'no doubt' Australia's social media landscape played a significant role. 'We know already that it's an important source of news and information, especially for younger voters,' she says, pointing to the proliferation of election explainers directed at young people among progressive content creators. But Collin cautions against painting them as entirely left wing , citing popular anti-government sources such as Rebel News's Australian bureau chief, Avi Yemini, and comedian Isaac Butterfield, who campaigned against independents and the Greens. 'The really interesting thing about their content, and where it's possibly different to some of the content that we see coming out of the US, is it seems to kind of be much more moderate in its presentation.' Content that seems 'less angry and less direct … possibly resonates more with an Australian audience,' she says. She believes young people, whether their politics skews further left or right, feel current media offerings directed at them ' are lacking'. An analysis by youth and democracy researcher Intifar Chowdhury, of the Australian Election Study (1996-2022) found that while gen Z men were politically more conservative than gen Z women, they were still more progressive than older generations of men. Chowdhury says the 2025 election results stop 'any kind of insinuation' that young men in Australia are becoming more right wing. 'If you look at electorates with a higher share of both first-time voters and voters under the age of 30, the higher the percentage, the more likely they are to swing towards Labor,' she says. 'I will be very surprised if we see a swing among young men towards the Coalition, because no matter what demographic you're talking about, there is some swing against the Coalition.' If her hypothesis is correct, it's bucking global trends. At the 2024 US election, men aged between 18 and 29 turned out in force for Trump, while women of the same age voted for Kamala Harris by an even wider margin. Similarly, men at the 2024 UK election were twice as likely to vote for Nigel Farage's rightwing Reform UK, while young women were more likely to vote Green. In Germany, there are signs young men under 30 are moving towards the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). China, Tunisia and South Korea have also experienced a surge in support for rightwing candidates among young men. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion But data suggests young Australians have been repelled by Trump's leadership style. A March study of voters aged 18-44 found just 23% surveyed said Australia would benefit from a leader like Trump; 58% said 'absolutely not'. A sense of dread about social cohesion and the rise of the far right were consistently cited as major issues among a cohort of almost 1,000 young voters who reached out to Guardian Australia over the election campaign. Chowdury describes what occurred this election as the 'Trump Slump'. 'I think Australia just became more moderate, to be honest,' she says. That's not to say there are no gender differences. Chowdhury's analysis found young Australian women shifting towards the left at a faster rate than men, with 34.0% of Gen Z men voting for the Coalition in 2022 compared with 19.8% of women. But the bigger indicator of voting preferences, polls tracked by Guardian Australia over the past year suggest, is the generational gap. All but one of the nation's five youngest electorates – Melbourne, Brisbane, Griffith and Ryan – were won by Labor in 2025 after previously being held by the Greens. (Ryan was too close to call at the time of writing.) 'Australians in general tend to vote heavily based on their issues of importance,' Chowdhury says. 'If you think about the generational grievance of the younger generations, it's being locked out of the [housing] market, the erosion of the safety net, job precarity.' Konrad Benjamin, the creator behind Punters Politics, courts an audience of predominantly millennial males with similar concerns – largely economic: a 'rigged' housing and taxing system and abuse of power by large corporations. Age aside, Benjamin says his audience is 'very diverse'. 'I had a bloke from Family First in Newcastle say 'your stuff is amazing', and then the Greens ask to get a picture with me,' he says. 'I'm pointing out the problem, and I'm just making sure people have the right scapegoat … that our guns are pointed upward to the establishment and not at each other, or to immigrants or vulnerable people.' He doesn't know how far Australia can read into its election results. 'Maybe people lurch to the right because Trump was charismatic – you get Dutton with charisma, maybe the blokes would lurch to the right,' he says. But he thinks part of the concern around the Andrew Tate-ification of young men is 'media moral panic' that isn't addressing the root cause – isolation and pessimism. 'Tate is the solution to a problem,' he says. 'Young men have less economic opportunity [than previous generations], the jobs they relied on are disappearing, the relationship structure is breaking down. 'I think where the right wing stepped into that void was: where are the masculine role models?' Jill Sheppard, a lecturer in ANU's school of politics and international relations,, says the 'manosphere', to the extent it exists in Australia, isn't having the same electoral impacts as in the US. 'That's not because there aren't cohorts of young men being radicalised online. I think it's purely because of compulsory voting,' she says. 'For every young Andrew Tate watcher who enters the electorate, there are 10 very regular voters – Greens-voting, for the most part. 'There is, absolutely without doubt, a very small number of very angry young men who are voting in Australian elections – but they're dwarfed by the young voters who either vote like their parents do, or they're voting Greens because they're worried about climate change and renters' rights and Hecs.' Compulsory voting also means mobilising any authoritarian bent among male voters is not politically effective, Sheppard says, as it risks ostracising large parts of the nation. 'Do I think young conservative men are an issue right now? No,' she says. 'Do I think the parties will do anything to stop them becoming an issue? No, and they're not incentivised to – that's the flipside of compulsory voting.'
Perth Now
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
Leaders eye election finish line in final-day sprint
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have just one more day to convince voters they should lead the nation, as the election campaign nears the finish line. The prime minister and opposition leader will embark on a last-minute blitz of marginal seats across Australia on Friday, the final full day of campaigning before polls open. Having already visited Western Australia and South Australia, Mr Albanese will look to round off the remaining four states as part of his six-state whistle-stop tour in the election's last days. Meanwhile, Mr Dutton is hoping to gain ground in battleground electorates during his sweep of 28 marginal seats for the frenetic final week. The opposition leader will be out to defy history and the polls to become the 32nd prime minister, with no party having formed government after just one term in opposition since 1931. The coalition has also been trailing in national opinion polls, while a seat-by-seat poll released on Thursday by YouGov revealed the opposition could sink to its lowest seat percentage since the 1940s. While some campaign techniques have stayed the same, the 2025 election has been defined by a shift of party leaders appearing on podcasts, with new media and online influencers having a large role. Hannah Ferguson, Cheek Media Co chief executive and co-host of the Big Small Talk podcast, said 2025 was the first election where political parties realised the influence of large online audiences, which had been untapped. "This is the first time politicians have realised the power of us," she told AAP. "An influencer has a level of engagement where they are talking politics and have a rapport with a dedicated audience who like and trust them." Mr Albanese has made several podcast appearances throughout the year, including with Abbie Chatfield and the Betoota Advocate, while Mr Dutton has been on podcasts with businessman Mark Bouris and Olympian Sam Fricker. Ms Ferguson said podcast appearances were a way to tap into previously unreachable audiences for political candidates. "It's easy to say Generation Z listen blatantly to information, but it's more complex than that. The politicians who bother to show up want to prove they want different voters," she said. "(Audiences) feel like they're opting into receiving communications." The influence of online creators and podcasters has become even more powerful during the traditional media blackout period for election advertising on TV and radio, with online measures not affected. A day out from polling day, Ms Ferguson said the prime minister had made better use of appealing to voters through podcasts and online platforms than his opponent. "He has followed suit with the strengths of Greens and teals with engaging in different demographics and new media, and reaching voters he would have lost," she said.
West Australian
01-05-2025
- Politics
- West Australian
Leaders eye election finish line in final-day sprint
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have just one more day to convince voters they should lead the nation, as the election campaign nears the finish line. The prime minister and opposition leader will embark on a last-minute blitz of marginal seats across Australia on Friday, the final full day of campaigning before polls open. Having already visited Western Australia and South Australia, Mr Albanese will look to round off the remaining four states as part of his six-state whistle-stop tour in the election's last days. Meanwhile, Mr Dutton is hoping to gain ground in battleground electorates during his sweep of 28 marginal seats for the frenetic final week. The opposition leader will be out to defy history and the polls to become the 32nd prime minister, with no party having formed government after just one term in opposition since 1931. The coalition has also been trailing in national opinion polls, while a seat-by-seat poll released on Thursday by YouGov revealed the opposition could sink to its lowest seat percentage since the 1940s. While some campaign techniques have stayed the same, the 2025 election has been defined by a shift of party leaders appearing on podcasts, with new media and online influencers having a large role. Hannah Ferguson, Cheek Media Co chief executive and co-host of the Big Small Talk podcast, said 2025 was the first election where political parties realised the influence of large online audiences, which had been untapped. "This is the first time politicians have realised the power of us," she told AAP. "An influencer has a level of engagement where they are talking politics and have a rapport with a dedicated audience who like and trust them." Mr Albanese has made several podcast appearances throughout the year, including with Abbie Chatfield and the Betoota Advocate, while Mr Dutton has been on podcasts with businessman Mark Bouris and Olympian Sam Fricker. Ms Ferguson said podcast appearances were a way to tap into previously unreachable audiences for political candidates. "It's easy to say Generation Z listen blatantly to information, but it's more complex than that. The politicians who bother to show up want to prove they want different voters," she said. "(Audiences) feel like they're opting into receiving communications." The influence of online creators and podcasters has become even more powerful during the traditional media blackout period for election advertising on TV and radio, with online measures not affected. A day out from polling day, Ms Ferguson said the prime minister had made better use of appealing to voters through podcasts and online platforms than his opponent. "He has followed suit with the strengths of Greens and teals with engaging in different demographics and new media, and reaching voters he would have lost," she said.
The Guardian
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Moral panic' about new media's influence on young voters underplays their interest in politics, creators say
Young Australian voters 'do actually care' about politics and current affairs, Konrad Benjamin tells Guardian Australia. 'Aussie punters are not disengaged,' he says. 'Most of the corporate media and politicians just refuse to talk about the big, systemic things that are broken, and how we can fix them.' The creator behind Punters Politics, with 400,000 followers on Instagram, is a popular source of information in the lead up to the federal election, according to responses to the Guardian Australia young voter callout. He is one of a lineup of independent commentators and journalists creating content on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Twitch that people told us they are turning to for political information. While most respondents to our callout indicated they rely on a mix of social media and traditional media for news, influencers and experts have observed a 'moral panic' about the increase in young online creators engaging in politics. For at least 20 years, young people have been moving away from formal politics – such as joining a political party or a volunteering organisation – and towards 'issues-based' politics, says Prof Philippa Collin from Western Sydney University. Collin researches the role of the internet in the political lives of young people. 'It's pretty common that it has been interpreted as young people not being interested or involved in civic engagement or political participation,' she says. But research points to an increase in participatory politics, where young people 'feel a responsibility to do something about the issues that they see in the world, or that affect them directly,' Collin says. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter 'They want to have more of a say, and to influence the world around them. They are facing a lot of really big issues, which they haven't played any part in creating … Think about the housing crisis, or the climate crisis, or various conflicts, or the general state of the economy.' At the same time, young voters have grown up with the internet. Legacy media organisations are increasingly crafting and distributing media in new formats on new platforms, but there are already young creators on those platforms dedicated to particular issues – whether that be groups with a particular focus, such as sustainability and climate, or citizen journalists who 'perhaps don't even have a journalism background, but become important educators,' Collin explains. Hannah Ferguson and her independent news commentary page Cheek Media Co and podcast Big Small Talk were collectively mentioned more than any other independent social media creators by people who responded to our callout. Her Instagram pages have a total of 271,200 followers. Cheek Media Co publishes short reels on politics that attract tens to hundreds of thousands of views. One reel from January that breaks down the opposition leader Peter Dutton's voting history on key issues such as housing affordability and Hecs indexation racked up 1.2m views, more than 40,000 likes and thousands of comments. Ferguson, who has recently interviewed Anthony Albanese and Adam Bandt, was one of a dozen content creators invited to the 2025 federal budget lockup, a move that was criticised by politicians and traditional media organisations. Benjamin's Punters Politics, Jordan Shanks from Friendlyjordies and Juice Media were also frequently named by respondents. Along with his Instagram page, Benjamin has almost 140,000 subscribers on YouTube, with videos on both platforms consistently reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers. He is known for critiquing big corporate industries, such as gas companies and supermarkets. Shanks, a comedian known for his political commentary, continues to have the largest follower base and viewership on YouTube of the Australian creators mentioned by callout respondents. He posts to 1.38 million subscribers. Juice Media, known for its 'honest government ads', has more than 1 million subscribers on YouTube, with videos consistently garnering half a million views or more. Pages such as Toilet Paper Aus on Instagram, Swollen Pickles on YouTube, and Purple Pingers on YouTube – whose creator Jordan van den Lamb is running for a Senate seat for the Victorian Socialists in this election – were also mentioned by callout respondents, as were journalists such as Antony Loewenstein, Jan Fran, the former political reporter at Guardian Australia Amy Remeikis, and Soaliha Iqbal. Abbie Chatfield, who was a reality TV contestant and host, and who now has half a million Instagram followers, is another name mentioned by callout respondents. Her interviews with Albanese and Bandt on her hit podcast It's a Lot were cleared of wrongdoing by the Australian Electoral Commission after a complaint by the Liberal party. A snippet of her interview with the prime minister posted to Instagram reached more than 700,000 viewers. Chatfield has encouraged her followers to put the Liberal party last on ballot papers, and in response to the AEC investigation said, 'there's moral panic about influencers in politics'. Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025 Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Collin agrees. She says there is a paradox here: 'On one hand, we have these discourses around young people not being interested in, not engaging in or caring about political issues. 'Then, as soon as the media and actors in society who [young people] listen to and engage with start talking politics, there is big concern about what is and isn't appropriate. 'This is just another classic moral panic around young people,' she says. Freya Leach, who was the Liberal candidate for Balmain during the 2023 NSW election, posts conservative takes to just over 14,000 TikTok followers. Her videos on the upcoming election, frequently promoting Liberal policies to boost gas production and cut migration numbers among other things, have reached tens of thousands of viewers each. The Australian Olympic diver Sam Fricker interviewed Dutton on his YouTube channel, which has close to 6 million subscribers, in December last year. The hour-long video reached less than 7,000 views. Fricker also recently interviewed the billionaire Clive Palmer, and energy minister, Chris Bowen, on his podcast. Benjamin doesn't consider himself a journalist. He says independent creators are 'in a lane of our own'. 'I'm not uncovering new stories. I don't have an editor … I don't have a team of people making sure my facts are correct.' While he has the social media following of an influencer, Benjamin doesn't use that moniker. He prefers 'video creator', and says he is a 'communicator'. 'You have scientists, you have journalists, you have economists. 'I feel like creators like myself step into the gap and do a bit of filtering … 'That's a distraction', 'this makes sense', 'let me explain this complex thing in a way that we might be able to understand'.' Benjamin thinks Australians are looking for 'authenticity' amid 'the clinical way media presents information'. Collin says what unites Ferguson, Benjamin and Chatfield is that they relate to a younger audience. 'They are disrupting the traditional discourse around young people and politics, and they are more likely to present as engaging in conversation and an exchange with their audience than other forms of media and political actors who tend to speak to their audience.' Benjamin describes the phenomenon as 'talkback radio reincarnate' and says the goal is to make politics accessible to 'everyday Aussie punters'. The former high school teacher started Punters Politics because 'it is getting harder and harder to do the very basic, simple things we are told to do'. 'Millennials, Gen Z, are told to get a job, go to uni, work hard,' he says. As younger voters grow up, they end up hitting a wall – 'Hang on, I'm never going to own a house'.' It is then that young people realise the system is broken, Benjamin says, and want to engage. This sentiment was frequently raised by young voters who responded to the Guardian's callout. Collin has observed it in her research as well. She says there is increasing fear and anxiety. 'Many young people are losing hope that they can have a good life through effort and making good decisions,' she says. At the same time, her research shows young people are increasingly expressing a desire for 'a more egalitarian and a more caring society, a society that cares about the people in it, as well as the environment, and also cares about Australia's role in the world'. 'I think there's an interesting role that the kind of newer and more independent, unorthodox forms of media commentators or journalists are providing, and that is, they're connecting with that search for hope that things can be different.'
