1 day Ago By Olivia Ireland
Follow our live coverage of the 2025 federal election here . The electoral watchdog is reviewing whether Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Greens leader Adam Bandt’s collaborative posts with social media personality Abbie Chatfield should be classified as political content in a flagship test of the growing relationship between politicians and influencers. Authorisation messages are legally required on political content from someone communicating an electoral or political matter.
Traditional news media is excluded from this requirement but the Australian Electoral Commission is reviewing whether Chatfield’s content is news opinion or should be declared as an endorsement of a candidate. Abbie Chatfield criticised the Liberal Party and said she was not paid to post any content. Credit: Remco Jansen/BINGE The commission’s review will test political leaders who share content creator posts that instruct listeners how to vote as more MPs appear on influencer podcasts and social media to reach a broad range of voters.
Three clips of Albanese being interviewed by Chatfield are on both his and her Instagram pages. One of the captions includes a summary of Labor’s Medicare policies while criticising the Liberal Party for its history on health policy. Bandt’s Instagram account has four collaborative posts with Chatfield, including clips of their joint “VOTE” DJ event in Melbourne last month, videos of Chatfield asking attendees “who here is voting Greens?” and a podcast clip with Chatfield describing Bandt as an “incredible leader”.
In the videos, other posts and captions, Chatfield promotes the Greens while telling her followers to put the Liberal Party last when they vote. Chatfield has regularly declared that she has invited Coalition leader Peter Dutton onto her show, but he has declined..
