Hannah Ferguson has announced she will run as an independent in Grayndler, setting up a challenge against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in his inner-west Sydney electorate and vowing stronger local representation.
Talk that the Cheek Media executive and co-founder would contest the seat emerged over the weekend, but it was not until Monday night that the 28-year-old made it official. The podcaster and writer had revealed plans last year to run for the Senate, but after what she described as extensive thought and discussions, she decided instead to target Grayndler, where Albanese has served as MP since before she was born.
In an Instagram post, Ferguson said, “The political system is broken.”
“The major parties are answering to vested interests, not the communities they have been elected to serve.
“The Albanese government currently holds a historic 94-seat super majority in the House of Representatives – yet all I hear from voters is disappointment and frustration.”
Ferguson, who was one of a small number of influencers invited by Labor to attend last year’s budget lock-up, an event traditionally reserved for mainstream media, said she was “not here to play politics” and would focus on making sure local voices were heard.
“My intention is to keep running local events, keep listening to feedback and to keep learning from my community,” she said.
“I want to build a strong, community informed, evidence-based policy platform that builds on the issues that I am already hearing.
“The people of Grayndler deserve better than a representative who chooses to prioritise the gambling lobby, fossil fuel industry, and donors who pay to play.”
Her comments come as a Senate inquiry examines Labor’s diluted gambling reform package. The proposal includes a ban on television and radio gambling advertisements during live sport, along with restrictions on online platforms once users opt in, but the Greens and independents argue the measures do not go far enough.
Labor is also under pressure from the left, both within the party and beyond it, to bring in a gas exports tax. Economists say such a policy could raise enough revenue to pay for dental care in Medicare or free university.
On Monday, Albanese was also defending his attendance at a dinner hosted by the 25-year-old son of a billionaire accused of channelling money from China. Asked about it, he said he goes to “lots of functions in lots of places”.
“We declare all of our donations in accordance with the rules. We’re transparent about it. I do attend a lot of events and, you know, that is part of the process that occurs. Engaging with people,” he told the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday.
Albanese has rejected calls for a gas tax, saying a change of that scale could hurt Australia’s attempts to secure petrol from countries that purchase its gas exports. He has also strongly promoted the government’s wagering reform plan as the “strongest ever action to tackle the harms of gambling”.
He has not yet commented on Ferguson’s Grayndler campaign.
Ferguson said she expects to step back from Cheek Media “at some stage next year to campaign full-time” and, until then, would “continue to publish disclaimers on the opinion content I produce for the platform”.
