Social media content creators invited to cover the Labor government’s budget have hit back at “dismissive” comments by politicians and media organisations at their inclusion in the lockup, saying new media platforms have a role to play in explaining politics and economics to wider audiences.
Around a dozen content creators – many with more than 100,000 followers, most with pages catering to financial advice or young people – were invited by Labor to travel to Canberra, join the budget lockup and interview senior ministers, including Anthony Albanese, Jim Chalmers, Katy Gallagher and Tanya Plibersek. The Australian Labor Party (ALP) organisation covered flights, hotels and other travel expenses for some of the creators, several of those invited told Guardian Australia.
“Some traditional media critics seemed uncomfortable with our presence, and I understand that this represents a shift, but we’re not here to replace journalists – we’re here to add more layers to the national conversation,” said Milly Bannister, a popular youth mental health advocate, who was among the group.
“Gen Z often feels disengaged from politics, not because they don’t care, but because the system hasn’t spoken to them in their language. That’s the gap we’re trying to fill.”
The Labor government invited a clutch of popular Instagram and TikTok creators to cover the budget on Wednesday afternoon, many specialising in personal finance or youth-focused news. Some claimed on their channels that it was the first time creators or new media had been invited to cover a budget, but government sources said a similar program had run, without much media attention, in 2024.
Several major media outlets, including Guardian Australia, reported before the lockup that social media creators were among those covering the budget. While most of the mainstream media were in lockup conditions inside their usual press gallery offices, the content creators were put up in a different conference room but under similar conditions as journalists, including having to surrender their phones for the duration.
Several creators told Guardian Australia they had been offered assistance with travelling to Canberra. It’s understood the ALP organisation had extended support to some of the creators – particularly those not making large sums from their social media presence – and that public funds were not used. Some creators declined the offer, while others accepted the help.
Hannah Ferguson, co-founder of youth news platform Cheek Media, wrote on Instagram: “I paid my own way and took an incredible opportunity to solidify the power of new media in connecting people with politics.”
Coalition sources had raised eyebrows at the creators being invited to the budget, including pointing out that some – including Ferguson – had been critical of Peter Dutton and the Coalition. In January, in a joint Instagram post with fellow social media creator Abbie Chatfield, Ferguson shared a photo of a notepad with the words “How to keep Peter Dutton OUT”.
The inclusion of influencers in the budget lock-up comes amid a greater focus among politicians on connecting to disengaged voters through popular podcasts, social media pages and influencers.
“The ALP has an ongoing engagement program with content creators. The party has provided logistical support to some content creators in order to make travel to Canberra for budget week accessible,” a government spokesperson said.
“The same logistical support was provided during engagement in 2024. There has been no payment for content or opinions.”
The office of Katy Gallagher, minister for finance and women, is understood to have been closely involved in selecting the creators invited to parliament.
Their inclusion was derided by some in the media and social media. Liberal senator Andrew Bragg tweeted, “The government for vested interests lets the cash for comment brigade into budget lockup.” He later clarified that he was speaking specifically about his concerns about superannuation companies “paying a bunch of influencers to distort the super for housing policy debate in the imminent election” and not criticising the whole cohort of creators.
He told Guardian Australia: “I like the idea of citizen journalism … I’m glad they’re in there [budget lockup].”
after newsletter promotion
Natasha Etschmann, a finance creator with 167,000 Instagram followers, was among those invited to cover the budget and interviewed Albanese. She claimed Bragg and some of the other criticism was “hypocritical”, as the senator had appeared on her podcast just last week.
“People try and discredit us because we’re on social media. They put the ‘influencer’ label, so people think you’re silly and uneducated,” she said.
Molly Benjamin, whose page Ladies Finance Club has 63,000 Instagram followers, said: “Politics can feel like an exclusive club but politicians are making decisions about Australians. Us being there was to help translate information for our demographic; young women are my main audience.”
She claimed critics of creators’ inclusion in the budget process may be “feeling threatened” and described media reporting on it as “dismissive”.
“Are we taking some of their readership away? I don’t think my audience is reading some of those big newspapers anyway. I’m not surprised by the reaction,” she said.
Creators said they didn’t accept payment for their content and weren’t obligated to post anything about the budget. Several defended their actions amid some media criticism, with Entschmann saying she would have accepted the invitation “no matter who was in government” and that other creators had strongly questioned government officials and ministers about things missing from the budget, such as more support for childcare or financial abuse.
“We weren’t just there because of Labor. There was debate, people were questioning the government, disappointed about things that weren’t in there,” she said.