Gen Z and millennial creators, mostly women, are leading the political charge this election campaign, as these two cohorts of voters will outnumber baby boomers for the first time.

This follows the 2024 US presidential election campaign, during which Kamala Harris appeared on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy – which is claimed to be the most-listened-to podcast by women – and Donald Trump on Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. 

Given this shift, we’ve rounded up the most watched social creators turned political commentators to keep an eye on this federal election cycle.

Last week, some of these content creators made mainstream media headlines because of their invitation to participate in a federal budget lockup, a ritual where journalists are stripped of their internet access and locked in a room with stacks of budget papers before the treasurer formally announces the budget. The purpose is for reporters to have time to understand, scrutinise and prep their budget stories for publication ahead of the announcement.

The Albanese government extending the invites shows it is acclimatising to the new playing field – one where long-form podcast interviews and Instagram reels are part of the strategy.

Our main criterion for this list is creators-turned-commentators with reach.

Accounts like The Daily Aus that take a new approach to news by primarily delivering it in Instagram carousels and podcasts but replicate a bipartisan traditional media structure don’t make the cut. Likewise, influencers-turned-candidates like Jordan van den Lamb (aka @purplepingers), who is running for the Senate for the Victorian Socialists, were excluded.

In no particular order, except alphabetical, here are the creators swaying your (or your children’s, or your mates’) votes this election:

Abbie Chatfield

Abbie Chatfiled is an Australian media personality and, at the time of writing, her podcast It’s a Lot is the 12th most listened to on Spotify’s Australian podcast charts.

Chatfield rose to prominence by speaking about abortion and sex openly on the seventh season of The Bachelor Australia, which aired in 2019. Since then, she’s built a platform of 523,000 Instagram followers and commentates on everything from the toxic dynamics of reality television shows to Trump’s presidency and Australian politics.

Impact so far

Chatfield interviewed both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Greens leader Adam Bandt on her podcast and created collaboration posts on social media with them. She has openly endorsed voting Greens first and Libs last, blatantly saying her objective is to keep Peter Dutton out in this election.

Her posts prompted a “probe” by the Australian Electoral Commission after Liberal senator Jane Hume raised them in Senate estimates last month. Hume queried whether they needed an authorisation (the disclaimer at the end of political advertisements that say “AuthorisedbyABandtAustralianGreens” at rapid pace).

AEC made its determination last week: No, it’s not required.

“The AEC is not satisfied that the episodes of Ms Chatfield’s podcasts on February 21, 2025, and March 11, 2025, could be considered to be paid advertising or to be communicated by or on behalf of a candidate or party,” an AEC spokesperson said.

Chatfield made a video soon after the result, alleging the headlines generated from the AEC investigation was a Liberal Party tactic to discredit her content, because on face value, if people heard she’s “under investigation”, they thought she was doing something wrong.

Despite the controversy, Chatfield maintains her position is to get people to “vote one Greens and put Libs last”.

friendlyjordies

We remember friendlyjordies, aka Jordan Shanks-Markovina, rising to prominence in the mid-2010s when Facebook used to seriously push video content onto our feeds.

As such, he’s been around for a while and is a comedian and political commentator with considerable reach. At the time of writing, he’s got 187,000 Instagram followers, 1.38 million YouTube subscribers and 347,000 followers on Facebook.

Many would tune in for his undeniably great impressions of Australian politicians and voter archetypes. They stick around because of his cutting political commentary.

His most mainstream moment to date was when he was sued for defamation by the then deputy premier of NSW. It’s a long story.

Also, his house was fire-bombed!

[sol_youtube youtubesrc=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHfLDvw8NtQ” /]

Impact so far

Nothing that’s attracted the ire of the AEC, but he’s been posting and promoting his ongoing Australian tour.

We’d consider him somewhat of a shock jock for the edgy Australian left; he takes no prisoners but wants to stand up for those who’re struggling in Australia, whether that’s issues with buying a house or cost-of-living pressures.

Hannah Ferguson

Hannah Ferguson is CEO of Cheek Media, an author and, at the time of writing, her podcast Big Small Talk is ranked No.7 in the country.

In the past week, Big Small Talk has published three specific Auspol episodes, one explaining how Australia’s preferential voting system works, one interview with Albanese and one with Bandt.

She has said multiple times on her podcast that she extended the same invitation to Dutton but has received no response. But it should also be noted Ferguson has sold T-shirts that read ‘Good morning to everyone except Peter Dutton‘, so you can imagine his team’s hesitancy.

Impact so far

Ferguson’s style is to inform listeners and follow it up with her own political critique. Her line of questioning to the Prime Minister and Greens leader focused on climate, the war in Gaza, and the cost of living – all front of mind for young voters. But she also angles for the power of minor parties and independents, the increasing possibility of a minority government and wants her listeners to think outside the two-party system.

She’s been equally critical of the Labor government as she has the Liberals, but her main message in the campaign so far is that a diverse political makeup is better for the country.

Jack Henderson

Jack Henderson is a red-cap wearing property influencer who manages to cut through the noise of the Instagram algorithm.

He’s sitting pretty at the time of writing, with 128,000 followers on the platform, who tune into his reels about property investment and mindset coaching.

Henderson wants to debunk popular media narratives like the rental crisis and the cost-of-living crisis. One video has him claiming there is no rental crisis, rather: “People have had it too good for too long”.

In another video on SBS, he claims there’s no cost-of-living-crisis, rather people are simply living beyond their own means.

Impact so far

While he might not directly influence how people vote or even talk too much about the federal election, Henderson is aiming for the minds of young, upwardly mobile men who want to own investment properties and pay fewer taxes.

In a sense, he’s part of the global ‘manosphere’ – a trend whereby young men are tuning into online voices that push to the right of the political spectrum.

Milly Rose Bannister

Bannister is the founder of ALLKND, a gen Z-led mental health charity.

She was one of the creators invited to budget lockup and then appeared on Network Ten’s The Project to speak about the influencers’ invitation. Asked by the hosts if she’d advise Treasurer Jim Chalmers to go viral with a “get ready with me” video, Bannister suggested “maybe dropping something really crucial to youth mental health, that would go viral”.

She doesn’t want to see politicians try to go viral this election, she wants to see respect grow for content creators like her, who Bannister said “bridge the gap” to make things like the budget accessible to an audience they’ve already built trust with.

Impact so far

Bannister is another that wants her following to look beyond the two major parties and educate themselves on independents in their area.

Her most recent election video shadowed her local MP, Allegra Spender, who was elected as a teal candidate in 2022.

Bannister created a “day in my life” style of video popularised on TikTok and Instagram. This was arguably more effective than if Spender created such a video herself because Bannister’s voiceover means she’s reaching an audience she’s already established trust with, giving it access to rooms they wouldn’t usually have through the video.

Natasha Etschmann

Etschmann is known as Tashinvests on Instagram, with 167,000 followers at the time of writing. She is licensed to give financial advice and is used to being in the headlines about the rise of financial influencers and the dangers of getting financial advice on social media.

Impact so far

Etschmann hasn’t specifically made an endorsement but was in the budget lockup and produced a carousel of her highlights. Her main budget discourse contribution was a video questioning Finance Minister Katy Gallagher about why tax brackets aren’t being indexed to inflation in Australia. Her impact remains to be seen, but she’s one to keep your eye on.

Punter’s Politics

Spanning YouTube and Instagram, Punter’s Politics (aka Konrad Benjamin) is another commentator embracing the power of social media to make the complicated accessible.

His skit-like reels are funny, but aim to demystify political topics and the news of the day into digestible short-form video content.

Benjamin’s classic targets include oil and gas giant Santos, house prices and the supermarket duopoly. You might be sucked into watching one of his videos after seeing the thumbnail which often says something like “Are Aussies REALLY this dumb?!” or “How to SCAM Aussies”.

Impact so far

Benjamin has gathered enough steam to have attracted the attention of the ABC, which wrote a feature on the influencer.

With electioneering in full swing, his videos have focused on that topic. He even interviewed Greens MP Max Chandler Mather on his YouTube channel.

Otherwise, Benjamin is focused on crowdfunding money to buy up spots on billboards to “expose” gas “SCAMS” around the world – even in Japan.

Sam Fricker

Fricker is an Australian Olympic diver-turned-political podcaster who gets the thirst clicks and clicks from political wonks – the best of both worlds.

At the time of writing, he’s got more than 160,000 followers on Instagram and his podcast – Diving Deep Podcast – has become a hotspot of political action in recent weeks.

While Albanese might’ve favoured Chatfield’s podcast for his new media appearance, Dutton popped up on Diving Deep in January.

Impact so far

His appearance predated the official beginning of the election campaign, but it signalled that Dutton was as interested in this new approach as his Labor counterpart.

Since then, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen has also appeared on Diving Deep, showing the blonde diver can straddle both sides of the aisle.

He even took Bowen for a ride in his electric vehicle. No, not a Tesla – an XPENG.