Meet the young Aussies ‘influencing’ the 2025 federal election: ‘A battle for hearts and minds’

Forget the leaders’ debates, don’t bother with the newspaper editorials, the real battle lines for this federal election are being drawn on social media as influencers and podcasters sway the minds of young Australians.

Following on from the Trump election in the US in which he scorned traditional media while wooing the burgeoning audience of influencers, this Australian poll may well be decided by the content creators, digital pundits and podcasters.

Media personality Abbie Chatfield, YouTuber Ozzy Man Reviews and Olympic diver Sam Fricker welcomed political leaders onto their podcasts over the last few months. 

The latter was invited to attend Peter Dutton’s budget response in March, after which he shared a reel explaining the Opposition’s policies next to a smiling Mr Dutton.

The landslide of digital coverage has led Monash University to declare there will be  a ‘youthshake’ on May 3.

For the first time, Millennial and Gen Z voters are expected to outnumber Boomers and Gen X at the polls.

‘We are seeing the shift in terms of the dynamics,’ former press secretary to Scott Morrison, Andrew Carswell, told Daily Mail Australia.

‘Young people don’t consume media in the same way that Boomers do and they need to be reached by both sides of politics.

‘The risk is bias, that you’re going to have this divergence of influences on the Left and the Right, all battling for hearts and minds but no one in the middle balancing all arguments.’

Daily Mail has spoken to a handful of some of the most active voices from across the political spectrum who are talking to – and influencing – young voters. 

Hannah Ferguson: ‘Trusted left-wing voice’

As co-founder and chief executive of Cheek Media Co. and co-host of its biggest podcast, Big Small Talk, Hannah Ferguson, 26, is a political commentator with millions of Australians listening to her and her social media channel.

‘People are looking for a trusted left-wing voice to challenge what mainstream media offers,’ she said.

‘I’m not saying people have to agree. I want to have really respectful dialogue.’ 

In January, she shared photos with Chatfield on her Instagram suggesting they were ‘brainstorming’ with a notebook saying: ‘How to keep Peter Dutton OUT!!!’

‘[It] is not that I’m anti-conservative, it’s that I’m anti-Peter Dutton and his views,’ she said.

Ms Ferguson said people consider her a ‘left-wing, hardcore feminist’ but this is wrong, claiming she aims to speak across the political spectrum.

As one of the ‘new media’ invited to the budget, Ms Ferguson was caught in the crossfire of some reports which said they were paid by the government.

She said she has never taken money from a political party or associated organisation, nor has she collaborated on a social media post.

But, does she have political aspirations? Yes. Ms Ferguson said in three years she will run for a political position though she would not say for whom.

Konrad Benjamin: ‘Why the hell not?’

A podcaster and influencer creating similar left-leaning content is Konrad Benjamin, the former teacher behind podcast and social media account Punter’s Politics.

Over the last year, the 35-year-old has created explainer videos on government policies, going viral in 2024 with a rant about the lack of tax on oil and gas companies.

‘A lot of millennials are looking at my platform as I talk about broader, systemic things that are fundamentally broken in politics in Australia,’ he said.

Mr Benjamin does not have political aspirations but, with a captive audience of 398,000 Instagram followers, he still holds influence. Why does he do it?

‘I started Punter’s Politics getting outraged [while] discovering how scammed Australians have been by oil and gas and different corporations not paying taxes.’

But, despite his campaigning, Mr Konrad said he won’t share his personal political leanings. 

‘I deliberately avoid it because it quickly turns into a tribal battleground where everyone writes someone off because they support someone else.’

This reporter asked him about his avoidance of tribalism when Climate 200 has run targeted advertisements using Punter’s Politics as the moniker.

‘They said, “Do you mind if we take your reel and use it” and I’m like, “Well, that’s the issue I’m talking about, and you’re going to get the issue out, then why the hell not?”‘

Mr Benjamin said he has not received payment from a political party or affiliated group for his content.

The fear of tribalism is not unfounded, with Andrew Carswell identifying a widening political divide.

‘Young people, certainly 18 to 35 and even the generation above, are more polarised now,’ Mr Carswell said, citing a ‘cleaving’ between male and female voters in the demographic. 

‘We’re seeing increasingly young women progressing more to the Left and young men floating a bit into the middle, a little dabbling with the Right.’

Josh McCann: ‘My right to talk about politics’

Property investment influencer and entrepreneur Josh McCann, 26, is one such figure who appears to have ‘dabbled’ with the Right.

Across his TikTok and Instagram accounts, he offers advice to his 7000 followers but has recently peppered political videos into his feed.

Speaking in front of a Sky News article about Peter Dutton’s property portfolio, the entrepreneur asks: ‘Our next prime minister?’

But Mr McCann has said he may be ‘politically more conservative’ but Peter Dutton likely will not have his vote.

‘Telling people he’s going to be great a Prime Minister because he’s got a property portfolio does not equate to someone running a country well,’ he said.

‘But it definitely helps with [social media] engagement,’ he said.

Mr McCann doesn’t plan to pursue a political career but he, like Punter’s Politics, finds social media a vehicle to make his point heard.

‘It’s not my greatest interest but, when it does relate to what I do for work and what I believe in, as a long term way of building wealth in property, then I feel like it’s within my right to talk about [it],’ he said.

While Mr McCann might not personally align with the Opposition leader, recent polling revealed young Australian men have made their admiration for Peter Dutton clear.

‘Our lads are… by far the demographic most supportive of Peter Dutton,’ Essential Media’s executive director Peter Lewis wrote in the Guardian. 

Barclay McGain: ‘Peter Dutton says the quiet part out loud’ 

One example is Barclay McGain, who campaigned for Donald Trump in 2024 and said the Opposition Leader’s ‘similarities’ to the US President are a factor in his appeal.

The 25-year-old is general manager of CPAC Australia, a regular conservative voice in the media and long-time campaign volunteer for the Liberals – he joined the party on his 16th birthday.

He also highlighted Mr Dutton’s opposition to the Voice Referendum, his appearance on Fricker’s podcast and his rhetoric linking the housing crisis to immigration.

‘As a young person trying to get into the property market… [young men] say, “Wow, [Mr Dutton] is a guy who’s almost saying the quiet part out loud”,’ he said. 

‘For ages, we’ve been told that to criticise something like immigration is racist.

‘But I think it’s a worthwhile discussion to say no one’s anti immigrant, but we do need to have a sensible discussion about what is an appropriate number.’

Mr McGain is no stranger to controversy. He was sacked from his electorate officer role for former Federal MP Andrew Laming in 2020 after a social media post came to light showing him grinning with a racially offensive figurine.

He returned to work six months later, but was publicly blasted in 2021 when he dressed up as acquitted US shooter Kyle Rittenhouse for a party – with the hashtag #NotGuilty.

Now campaigning for the Liberals in Brisbane this election, this reporter asked whether Mr McCann regretted his actions five years later. 

He said no. ‘I’ve never intended harm to anyone, and as a result, I don’t feel as though I owe anyone an apology.’

Overall, Andrew Carswell said digital commentators, influencers and campaigners are part of an exciting new world but their platforms come with dangers.

‘The risk is there is no kind of fact-checking capability,’ he said.

‘But I think the opportunities outweigh the risk because it brings more voices into politics.’