The Labor Party have paid travel costs for YouTube creators, independent journalists and so-called social media influencers, who were selected by the party and government ministers, and then given them preferential treatment not afforded other independent journalists.
Only some of the 13 “independent media” had their travel costs paid but all were given special treatment by being allowed into the federal budget lock-up.
What is the federal budget lock-up? Wikipedia says, “On budget day, but before the presentation of the budget, the Treasurer spends the day behind locked doors briefing media and interest groups on various aspects of the budget. This is known as the budget lock-up.” (Click here to read more)
Below is some of the reporting which outlines what happened and at the end I will outline the key issues of what an abuse of power it was for the Labor Party to do what they did.
The SMH published an article on the 26th of March 2025 titled “Australian Labor Party paid content creators’ travel costs for budget” which starts off:
The Australian Labor Party has compensated some of the social media influencers who covered the federal budget for their travel to Canberra, after inviting them to attend the lock-up as part of a campaign strategy to court prominent online voices.
A sportswear brand ambassador and charity founder, Instagram finance advisers and left-wing feminist influencers were part of the group who came to Canberra for the budget as part of a Labor strategy to court prominent online voices reported by this masthead earlier this month.
One of the influencers told this masthead that some of the 13 content creators with less financial resources had their travel costs to Canberra covered by the party. This was confirmed by other sources familiar with the project.
The financial support to influencers reveals further accessibility given to non-traditional forms of media, as Federal Labor works to reach voters who use social media for their news consumption.
The people invited to report on the budget were selected by the party and government ministers, sources confirmed.
The Australian Financial Review reported on Wednesday that some influencers would also be allowed to travel with the prime minister as he campaigns for the upcoming election, widely expected to be called within days. The Coalition has also sought to use influencers to spread its message. (Click here to read more)
Further background which adds to how scandalous it is:
The SMH published an article on the 5th of March 2025 titled “Soft questions, angry comments: Albanese and Dutton hit the podcast campaign” which says:
Abbie Chatfield wasn’t hiding her political allegiance. “My primary goal in this is to get the Labor government back into government,” the influencer declared at the start of her interview with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last month.
The treatment shows why political parties are so eager to court influencers such as Chatfield, who became a star on The Bachelor and is now a broadcaster. They have big audiences, loyal followers, and reach people who aren’t a “political girlie pop” in Chatfield’s phrasing. It’s little wonder Albanese stayed with Chatfield’s It’s A Lot podcast for 90 minutes, half an hour longer than planned.
But the connection people feel with influencers such as Chatfield, who has made avowedly left-wing politics core to her brand, comes with a risk for the stars.
“I’m raging that she’s platformed a genocide complicit fkwit [sic] of a PM,” one commenter wrote after Chatfield’s Albanese interview. “He used you, you idiot.” (Click here to read more)
Some key questions:
- How many of the “independent journalists” and/or social media influencers are regularly critical of the federal Labor government? None I’ll bet.
- How many of the 13 are confessed supporters of the Labor Party such as Abbie Chatfield?
- What are the names of the Labor Party staff and government ministers who selected the 13 and what was the criteria to be selected?
- Were other political parties and independent politicians also allowed to invite their preferred “independent media” to the federal budget lock-up? If not, why not?
- How many taxpayer dollars were used to support the 13 “independents” when they were in Canberra and/or at parliament house.
There are 2 key issues. Firstly, the Labor Party gave special treatment to journalists who they would regard as Labor Party “friendly” and secondly, there would have been government dollars used to facilitate it even if was a small amount.
One of the 13 invited was a website called “Missing Perspectives” and they published a story about the trip and also raised the issue about payment and said:
“It goes without saying that it’s really important that any media (creators, influencers or journalists) invited continue to be really transparent about whether they accepted payment, flights or accommodation paid for etc. Missing Perspectives is a newsroom – and because of that, we prioritise editorial independence and have a policy of declining any paid accommodation or transport for political coverage.” (Click here to read more)
At least Missing Perspectives were honest about the payments, but I hate to tell them that if they were hard hitting journalists they would not have been invited by the Labor Party.
You might think it is a minor issue, but it is part of a deeper dive this website and YouTube channel will be taking into the Labor Party playing dirty pool trying to influence independent media just before the federal election.
Could you imagine the Labor Party ever inviting me? Of course not. You might argue that is because I don’t report on finance. But I do, it’s called financial fraud which is a regular theme on this website when I write about corrupt politicians.
We all know how the Murdoch / News Corp propaganda machine supports the Liberal / National Party coalition and leading up to the election it’s important to have a close look at the Labor Party’s independent media strategy which isn’t pretty. But more on that soon.
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Categories: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
It’s just as tacky as RW media promoting the LNP. Until we get strict laws (with teeth) about msm and behaviour of our elected leaders, nothing will change.
If voting wasn’t compulsory in Australia, what percentage of the population would bother turning up to vote? Highly doubtful if half of eligible voters would front, doesn’t matter which level of government we read about, local state federal, the standards are extremely low, calibre of our so called represents is extremely low, lies lies and more lies combined with absolute propaganda with our level of politics heading in the direction of POTUS. Deporting citizens, jailing legitimate refugees, secret court cases, secret jailings and our representatives dare critize other countries…though can be entertaining at times, like an election stunt of putting alcohol excise/GST on hold, to save beer drinkers one cent a glass..
Even if voting was compulsory, I would suspect that quite a few would place a huge X over their ballot paper and write “These candidates are unsuitable”. In fact, we might as well do this since the UniParty decided to rig the rules in such a way that independents will be locked out from running in every election from 2028 onwards. In passing the Electoral Donation reforms, they have ignored the fact that this is unconstitutional and subject to many court challenges, which I expect will happen. Haines said that she would repeal this stupid law if we plunge into a minority government, and for that, she deserves my respect. Bottom line is the UniParty has proven time and time again that they are not interested in listening to their own people or experts. The way they have ignored the 15,000+ submissions that criticized the Social Media Minimum Age bill proves that.
Yes. The new electoral rules apply after this one, so that means this is our last chance to vote the uni-party out. Our last chance! And I know that won’t happen. Most Australians are so apathetic they don’t know what’s going on and just vote for the same parties they’ve always voted for, the same ones who’ve been screwing us for decades. That has resulted in a parliament full of genocide supporters, and being roped into AUKUS without consultation with the people, the take over of our sovereignty, our Defence Department, Pine Gap and more. Still we sit idly by, thinking, this can’t be as awful as it appears. But it is. It’s disastrous because we will be on the front line of the US war with China, our greatest trading partner, something literally nobody wants bar our leaders and their billionaire backers.
STRUTH!
In a world where politicians seem to treat the electorate like a never-ending source of entertainment, it’s hard not to wonder: what would happen if we stopped taking the whole voting thing so seriously? As the political landscape grows ever more absurd, here are a few questions that might just reflect the true state of our democracy – or at least make you question whether we’ve all lost the plot.
If voting wasn’t compulsory, how many Australians would rather do literally anything else, like watch paint dry or attempt to teach a cat how to use a smartphone, than show up at the polls?
If politicians were required to submit their lies in writing before speaking them, would we even have a functioning government, or would we just be left with an endless pile of paperwork and a national recycling crisis?
If the next election promise was to put a freeze on all public transportation to save on fuel costs, would Australians celebrate or just start taking their bikes out of storage—only to find them covered in cobwebs and disappointment?
If political stunts like “saving one cent on beer” became the norm, would we need a national “Cheapest Gimmick Award” to keep track of who’s winning in the battle for the most ridiculous voter-friendly tactic?
With the way things are going, could we finally see an Australian political party that runs on the promise of a national siesta every afternoon, because if we’re going to waste our time, we might as well be well-rested while doing it?
STRUTH!
SAVE Australia! SAVE Us! SAVE Me!
I can’t imagine that there are too many people reporting (in one way or another) on current affairs who have absolutely no interest in which political party is in power. Some are more blatant about their interest than others (e.g., the ‘journalists’ who are employed by Rupert Murdoch) and some have to pretend disinterest and ‘impartiality’ (e.g., those employed by the ABC). What matters is how the news is reported, not what the perceived bias of the reporter may be. Having said that, I’ve got no problem with Albanese collecting a group of people sympathetic to the cause to report the budget on social media. Most of the ‘professional’ MSM are against him and the Labor party and highly unsympathetic. Why should he just have to put up with that biased state of affairs?
No different to LNP interacting with Murdoch & News Corp who are propaganda media. I bet the list of frauding Govt money between LNP & Labor has more fraud on Libs side than Labor. Especially Dutton.
And Labor helped the Libs cover-up their fraud with the fake NACC.