Latest news with #Chandler-Mather
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why isn't there a single social media-savvy MP in Parliament?
Chandler-Mather is in some ways a poor messenger, given his loss, but he insists there are longer-term risks from politicians' lack of engagement with voters on social media platforms. 'Australia's going down the pathway of this sort of slow disengagement,' says Chandler-Mather. 'Like, the number of people disengaging from politics increases every year. The number of people who feel sort of distrustful of politics increases every year.' Tim Doyle, a marketing savant who has done contract work for Labor in the past and now leads telehealth company Eucalyptus, says Australian political parties are behind much of the Western world. 'They also only fire up the engine, which needs to be always on, about six weeks before an election,' Doyle says. Where an American politician like Mamdani might throw himself into the ocean fully clothed in midwinter as he declares 'I'm freezing… your rent', Australian MPs play it safe, Doyle says. 'Politicians are terrified of being vulnerable and that's the essential thing for social media,' he says. 'They have no idea what engagement matters. They preach to their true believers, who like and share their content, but that does nothing to convince the undecided voters they need.' Good social posts, he says, 'should make your true believers a little bit uncomfortable.' Only a handful of politicians tiptoe into the stunts and trends that might distinguish them online from the parade of slick brand videos and AI-generated slop. Dan Repacholi, the MP for the Hunter in NSW, has, for example, posted videos with fake wounds to promote safety in the mining industry and tells men to 'watch your nuts' as part of his role as a men's health envoy. One Nation's Please Explain cartoon has flourished online, but is between seasons. And Keith Wolahan, a Liberal MP who did extensive social media directed at Chinese-Australian voters, lost his Melbourne seat at the election. Loading But most MPs have only a few thousand followers, far fewer than niche hobby influencers, and fill their feed with screenshots of press releases, clips from television interviews and awkward, unedited speeches about the opening of local facilities. One Labor MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, says the government has no unified social media strategy outside of elections. 'People just do their own social media,' the MP says. 'After coming to government, I just don't have the time.' Former Labor campaign strategist Megan Lane says Australia's compulsory and preferential voting system means that politicians here can use social media differently than other countries. There is no need to persuade voters to back a candidate in a primary, to bring disengaged people to a booth on polling day, or to tack to extremes because preferential voting tends to bring those ballots back to the parties in the centre. Politics is also less polarised, making it less likely to be picked up by an algorithm online. 'Instead of exciting rusted-on supporters to drive up voter turnout, Australian politicians are essentially focused on persuading punters that they are the least bad option,' Lane says. Mainstream media too still has huge influence. Seven's Sunrise breakfast television program, for example, had a national average audience of 399,000 people as of July 16, according to figures from industry measurement provider Virtual Australia. Morning interviews often draw further reporting from outlets, as do scoops in newspapers, multiplying their audience throughout the day. But another dynamic is staffing. Political staffers on both sides of politics, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said social media was typically the responsibility of the most junior person in an MPs office. Career progression required going into policy development or traditional public relations. 'They all think about traditional media all the time and never social,' Doyle says of politicians, who are in their mid-40s on average when elected, according to data from the Parliamentary Library. Jenrick's approach is different. The MP employs a 21-year-old called Dov Forman to film his videos. Uniquely among political staffers, Forman is a social star in his own right who racked up millions of views filming the stories of his great-grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, during the pandemic. His expertise is evident in his style. Where most Australian MPs talk straight into the camera, Forman's videos for Jenrick are frenetic. His 58-second clip on fare evasion has 33 jump cuts. There is a risk in getting social media wrong, though. 'It's a personal choice,' says the Labor MP. 'How do you get people to focus on your message without turning yourself into a clown?' 'Some people in the crossbench are happy to veer towards silly stuff but if you want to be serious in government I don't think it's worthwhile.' Loading Chandler-Mather, the former Greens MP who developed a huge social media following, disagrees. 'The idea that 'We're a party of government, and so we can't propose anything other than tinker around the edges' is a completely self-serving argument,' Chandler-Mather says. He argues that politicians from the major parties lack the charisma and appealing messages that work online. 'To be honest, the calibre of Australian politician isn't fantastic,' Chandler-Mather concludes. His loss, he says, was a result of major party preferences and being outspent.
The Age
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
Why isn't there a single social media-savvy MP in Parliament?
Chandler-Mather is in some ways a poor messenger, given his loss, but he insists there are longer-term risks from politicians' lack of engagement with voters on social media platforms. 'Australia's going down the pathway of this sort of slow disengagement,' says Chandler-Mather. 'Like, the number of people disengaging from politics increases every year. The number of people who feel sort of distrustful of politics increases every year.' Tim Doyle, a marketing savant who has done contract work for Labor in the past and now leads telehealth company Eucalyptus, says Australian political parties are behind much of the Western world. 'They also only fire up the engine, which needs to be always on, about six weeks before an election,' Doyle says. Where an American politician like Mamdani might throw himself into the ocean fully clothed in midwinter as he declares 'I'm freezing… your rent', Australian MPs play it safe, Doyle says. 'Politicians are terrified of being vulnerable and that's the essential thing for social media,' he says. 'They have no idea what engagement matters. They preach to their true believers, who like and share their content, but that does nothing to convince the undecided voters they need.' Good social posts, he says, 'should make your true believers a little bit uncomfortable.' Only a handful of politicians tiptoe into the stunts and trends that might distinguish them online from the parade of slick brand videos and AI-generated slop. Dan Repacholi, the MP for the Hunter in NSW, has, for example, posted videos with fake wounds to promote safety in the mining industry and tells men to 'watch your nuts' as part of his role as a men's health envoy. One Nation's Please Explain cartoon has flourished online, but is between seasons. And Keith Wolahan, a Liberal MP who did extensive social media directed at Chinese-Australian voters, lost his Melbourne seat at the election. Loading But most MPs have only a few thousand followers, far fewer than niche hobby influencers, and fill their feed with screenshots of press releases, clips from television interviews and awkward, unedited speeches about the opening of local facilities. One Labor MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, says the government has no unified social media strategy outside of elections. 'People just do their own social media,' the MP says. 'After coming to government, I just don't have the time.' Former Labor campaign strategist Megan Lane says Australia's compulsory and preferential voting system means that politicians here can use social media differently than other countries. There is no need to persuade voters to back a candidate in a primary, to bring disengaged people to a booth on polling day, or to tack to extremes because preferential voting tends to bring those ballots back to the parties in the centre. Politics is also less polarised, making it less likely to be picked up by an algorithm online. 'Instead of exciting rusted-on supporters to drive up voter turnout, Australian politicians are essentially focused on persuading punters that they are the least bad option,' Lane says. Mainstream media too still has huge influence. Seven's Sunrise breakfast television program, for example, had a national average audience of 399,000 people as of July 16, according to figures from industry measurement provider Virtual Australia. Morning interviews often draw further reporting from outlets, as do scoops in newspapers, multiplying their audience throughout the day. But another dynamic is staffing. Political staffers on both sides of politics, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said social media was typically the responsibility of the most junior person in an MPs office. Career progression required going into policy development or traditional public relations. 'They all think about traditional media all the time and never social,' Doyle says of politicians, who are in their mid-40s on average when elected, according to data from the Parliamentary Library. Jenrick's approach is different. The MP employs a 21-year-old called Dov Forman to film his videos. Uniquely among political staffers, Forman is a social star in his own right who racked up millions of views filming the stories of his great-grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, during the pandemic. His expertise is evident in his style. Where most Australian MPs talk straight into the camera, Forman's videos for Jenrick are frenetic. His 58-second clip on fare evasion has 33 jump cuts. There is a risk in getting social media wrong, though. 'It's a personal choice,' says the Labor MP. 'How do you get people to focus on your message without turning yourself into a clown?' 'Some people in the crossbench are happy to veer towards silly stuff but if you want to be serious in government I don't think it's worthwhile.' Loading Chandler-Mather, the former Greens MP who developed a huge social media following, disagrees. 'The idea that 'We're a party of government, and so we can't propose anything other than tinker around the edges' is a completely self-serving argument,' Chandler-Mather says. He argues that politicians from the major parties lack the charisma and appealing messages that work online. 'To be honest, the calibre of Australian politician isn't fantastic,' Chandler-Mather concludes. His loss, he says, was a result of major party preferences and being outspent.
Epoch Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
‘Awful, Miserable' Workplace: Departing Greens MP Claims He's Pleased to Leave Parliament
While Greens leader Adam Bandt's seat of Melbourne is still too close to call, two of the party's MPs already know they're not returning to Parliament: Stephen Bates and housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather. But Chandler-Mather says he's far from upset to be leaving Parliament, which he describes as a 'sick place.' 'I'll be honest, one of the things I'm quite happy about at the moment is I don't have to spend more time in the House of Representatives, because basically every time I stood up, I got screamed and yelled at,' he told the ABC. 'In terms of a workplace, it was bloody awful, and frankly, a lot of the time, miserable.' It was the people he represented and those who felt let down by Parliament that motivated Chandler-Mather to keep going. 'We were getting attacked because we said we should spend a bit more on public housing and give something to renters. I feel proud of that work … and I think if I had my time again, I would do it all again,' he said. Related Stories 4/30/2025 4/23/2025 '[But] despite all of that and fighting hard work, we fell short, and I feel like I've let people down because I always feel like, at the end of the day, the MP has to take responsibility for that, and I suppose I do.' He blamed the Greens' loss of lower house seats, including his own, on the decline in votes for the Liberal Party, which resulted in Liberal preferences flowing to Labor. Despite this, Chandler-Green sees the outcome as 'the second most successful election in Australian Greens history' because of the gains made in the Senate. 'We'll end up with two to three lower house MPs and the largest Senate vote in our history,' he said. 'The only way the government is going to pass legislation through the Senate now is either with the Greens or the Coalition.' Count Continues The Australian Greens have failed to win seats they thought they could take from Labor. This result contrasts with the performance of Climate-200-backed Teal candidates, who won seats from the Coalition. In the seat of Ryan, Liberal candidate Maggie Forrest is leading the Greens' Elizabeth Watson-Brown on first preferences. But with preference flows from Labor, who are running just 800 votes behind the Greens in the current count, Watson-Brown is expected to hold the seat. In the seat of Melbourne, the reverse applies. Bandt leads on first preferences with 40.3 percent to Labor's 31.5 percent, but the Green MP needs 33 percent of preferences from other parties to retain his seat. The Australian Electoral Commission's official preference count currently shows flows of under 26 percent, which means Labor still leads the projected two-candidate preferred count and holds a chance of victory.
Sky News AU
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Unseated Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather rips into Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after scathing ‘attack'
Max Chandler-Mather has hit back at Anthony Albanese in an ongoing war of words, after the Prime Minister hit out at the unseated Greens MP's 'offensive' behaviour in parliament. Unseated Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather has hit back at Anthony Albanese after the Prime Minister's scathing remarks about his behaviour in parliament. Mr Chandler-Mather lost his inner-city Brisbane seat of Griffith to Labor's Renee Coffey at the federal election on Saturday, with Sky News also calling Greens leader Adam Bandt's loss in his seat of Melbourne. In a sit-down interview with ABC's 7:30 on Wednesday, Mr Albanese commented on remarks made by Mr Chandler-Mather, who had deemed Parliament a 'sick' and 'miserable' place, declaring he was happy to not be working there anymore. — Max Chandler-Mather (@MChandlerMather) May 7, 2025 The Prime Minister said the outgoing Greens MP needed a 'mirror and a reflection on why he's no longer in parliament', stating the remarks were 'a bit rich of him' after being ousted by his electorate after just one term. Following the Prime Minister's 'attack', Mr Chandler-Mather hit back on social media, arguing the Prime Minister's words were a reflection of a larger issue. 'I feel like the PM launching into another attack on someone who isn't even in parliament, rather than celebrating a historic win proves my point,' he posted to X. 'Which is this is how the political class treats ppl who fight for renters & real change.' He then urged his supporters to 'compare this to (Mr Albanese's) kind words for (Peter) Dutton'. In his original comments to Triple J's Hack after conceding, Mr Chandler-Mather had claimed the minor party was prone to getting 'attacked' because of proposed reforms for public housing and renters. "There were times when I was sitting in parliament and you'd watch both sides of politics team up to defend the stage three tax cuts,' he said. "Then we were getting attacked because we said we should spend a bit more on public housing and give something for renters.' Mr Albanese told ABC host Sarah Ferguson Mr Chandler-Mather should examine the way he conducted himself in Question Time, after directing questions at him that the Prime Minister had 'found pretty offensive'. The Prime Minister also hit out at Greens leader Adam Bandt, claiming his former seat of Melbourne was "very much under a cloud", and stated it was "very difficult to see a pathway in which he will resume his seat in Parliament". While the Greens are on track to lose three of their four seats in this election, including the electorate of Brisbane - which was also picked up by Labor - Sky News projected on Thursday morning the minor party would keep the seat of Ryan. Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi declared that despite projections, the party was still hopeful of Mr Bandt retaining the seat of Melbourne. "As many as 15,000 absentee and declaration votes that have yet to be sorted and counted," she told ABC's Radio National on Thursday morning. "And often those votes have a swing towards the Greens, so we are waiting for all those votes to be counted, to declare the result."
Sky News AU
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
PM Anthony Albanese says Mat Chandler-Mather 'needs a mirror' after claiming Labor fosters toxic culture in Question Time
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has blasted outgoing Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, who had repeatedly criticised Labor and the culture in Parliament House. Mr Chandler-Mather, the minor party's former housing spokesperson, lost his inner-city Brisbane seat of Griffith to Labor's Renee Coffey at the federal election on Saturday. The Greens' woes then worsened on Wednesday afternoon, after Sky News projected party leader Adam Bandt would lose his seat of Melbourne - which is set to turn red again after 15 years. Labor also picked up the Greens electorate of Brisbane and clinched a narrow victory in the Melbourne seat of Wills, despite the minor party launching a considerable ground campaign to flip the marginal electorate. In a sit-down interview with ABC's 7:30, Mr Albanese was asked about Mr Chandler-Mather, who claimed this week that parliament and Question Time was a "sick place" and that he was "happy" to not spend time in the House of Representatives anymore. The outgoing Greens MP described the workplace as "bloody awful" and "miserable", recalling that "every time" he stood up to speak he would be "screamed and yelled at". Mr Albanese said Mr Chandler-Mather should reflect and "have a good look at the way he asks questions" in parliament. "Maybe what he needs is a mirror and a reflection on why he's no longer in parliament… it's a bit rich for him, of all people, who has been rejected by his own electorate after just one term," the Prime Minister told ABC host Sarah Ferguson. "This is a guy who stood before signs at a CFMEU rally in Brisbane describing me as a Nazi. I think he should have a look at the way he conducted himself in Question Time, including the questions that he asked of me, which I found pretty offensive." The Prime Minister also took a swipe at Greens leader Adam Bandt, claiming his former seat of Melbourne was "very much under a cloud", and stated it was "very difficult to see a pathway in which he will resume his seat in Parliament". The Greens have lost three of their four seats so far this election, although appear on track to retain the Brisbane seat of Ryan. Labor's Rebecca Hack is less than 600 votes behind Greens' Elizabeth Watson-Brown with just under 20 per cent of ballots still to be counted. "What I hope comes out of the new Senate is a bit of a recognition that one of the reasons why the Greens political party have had a bad outcome in the election is the view that they simply combined with the Coalition in what I termed the no-alition, to provide blockages" Mr Albanese said on Wednesday night. Mr Albanese was also questioned about the Environmental Protection Agency, which he promised to establish if he won a second term in government. "We want to make sure that a federal EPA can support industry and jobs and provide certainty, but also produce sustainable outcomes. You can protect the environment whilst you are also standing up for jobs and certainty for the resources sector," he said. However, the Prime Minister refused to comment on Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek's future in cabinet and also did not confirm if she would be moved to another portfolio. Ms Plibersek failed to get Labor's promised federal EPA passed despite negotiating a deal with the Greens and crossbench in the Senate, with Mr Albanese making a captain's call and shelving the plan after discussions with Western Australia Premier Roger Cook. Mr Albanese said he would finalise his revised cabinet over the weekend, following a meeting of the brimming Labor caucus on Friday. 'We have a Caucus meeting on Friday. I respect our internal processes and I'm not about to pre-empt them. That'll take over the weekend and into next week,' he told 7:30. 'I'm going to have a swearing-in of Ministers next Tuesday morning, is the tentative proposal that I have put forward to her Excellency the Governor-General, so that we will have plenty of time to work through those issues.' Stephen Jones' assistant treasurer role and Bill Shorten's NDIS portfolio are both up for grabs as the various Labor factions jostle over the imminent cabinet reshuffle. 'Well, the leader always gets to allocate portfolios under our system, but I'm someone who is consultative,' Mr Albanese said.
