Media influencer, commentator and podcaster Hannah Ferguson has taken a swipe at Anthony Albanese while confirming she plans to challenge the Prime Minister in his Grayndler electorate at the next federal election.

The co-founder and CEO of independent platform Cheek Media revealed her intention to stand as an independent in her home seat on Instagram, declaring that “the political system is broken”.

She also claimed the major parties were “answering to vested interests” rather than the communities they were elected to serve.

“Last year, I announced that I intended to run as an independent for Senate,” she wrote.

“Towards the end of 2025, the more conversations I was having, the more the question came up: why not Grayndler?”

Law graduate Ferguson, whose Cheek Media’s stated aims include “challenging the rhetoric of the Murdoch media”, is also an author and co-host of the podcast Big Small Talk. She was one of several influencers invited to join mainstream journalists at the Labor government’s past two federal budget lock-ups.

The 28-year-old told Seven’s Sunrise on Tuesday that she was born in the Sydney electorate of Grayndler and, as a young person, did not feel represented at a local level by Albanese, who has held the seat for 30 years.

“I think this is an incredibly progressive electorate that demands and deserves more than a politician who is beholden to the interests of the gambling lobby and the fossil fuel industry,” Ferguson said.

 

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When Today show’s host Natalie Barr pointed out that Albanese won nearly 67 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote at the 2025 election, Ferguson cited right-wing party One Nation’s surging popularity in recent months as evidence that no seat was safe.

“I think Australians are fed up with the major parties right now, who are not listening to their needs and who need to receive a clear message…” she said.

“I think more people need to be standing up, putting their head above the parapet and challenging people like the Prime Minister.

“At the end of the day, he’s an elected local representative and I believe he’s failing the area and I want to change that.”

While many of Ferguson’s social media followers applauded her move, some argued that it risked splitting the Labor vote and ultimately benefitting the Liberal Party and One Nation.

“… I don’t understand why in an era of destabilisation fuelled by right wing propaganda, you would try to undermine the best option we’ve got right now? It feels totally unrealistic and also dangerous to unseat a Labor PM, with One Nation on the rise,” wrote one.

Ferguson is a regular critic of One Nation, in particular, most recently debunking leader Pauline Hanson’s comments that domestic violence is “a two-way street”.

 

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Acknowledging that running as an independent for Grayndler was “a significant pursuit”, Ferguson told her more than 136,000 Instagram followers that it was her intention to step away from Cheek Media at some stage next year to campaign full time.

“I want Cheek to remain independent and exist beyond me,” she wrote.