The fact that young people have become the most influential voter bloc in the political landscape is why it’s so surprising, and confusing strategy-wise, that Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton seems to be actively avoiding youth media who are targeting this exact demographic across the country.
In a recent post on Instagram, the team over at social-first news outlet The Daily Aus – one of the biggest youth media companies in the country – discussed how they had first approached the Coalition and Labor’s headquarters back in September last year. Their pitch? The first-ever leaders’ debate hosted by a youth media company. What a great idea, right? The Prime Minister agreed to their proposal – yet they never heard back from the Leader of the Opposition. In their post, they said that they had emailed, texted, and called “many, many times.”
Similarly, our team at Missing Perspectives – a team who had been invited to attend the budget by the Labor government – has had no luck at the time of writing. We lodged our first interview request on 6 February this year, then again on 31 March. We really wanted to host Peter Dutton at a dinner with a group of our followers who were undecided voters. The response we’ve received? Radio silence – not even a receipt of our email.
We’ve seen Labor, the Greens and the teals lean in and embrace social media and youth media to connect with young people, who are becoming increasingly key to winning this election. So why isn’t Dutton?
I’m not saying he hasn’t been doing interviews and podcasts. He joined Mamamia’s No Filter. He joined Olympic diver Sam Fricker’s Diving Deep. He joined Mark Bouris’ Straight Talk. All newsrooms with an older – and apart from the former – mostly male audiences. Yet he hasn’t joined The Daily Aus. He hasn’t joined Junkee. He hasn’t joined Cheek Media or Hannah Ferguson. He hasn’t joined Abbie Chatfield’s It’s A Lot.
If you were Dutton’s media advisors, would you not see that preaching to the converted, and into your echo chamber, won’t cut through and secure the votes that you need?
Isn’t it worth shooting your shot and doing interviews with these new outlets – to speak directly to this audience that is fast becoming the biggest voting bloc in the country – and not exclude or alienate this demographic that the Liberal Party will also need to rely on in the coming decades?
From a strategy and comms perspective, I totally understand if Dutton’s team is concerned with the way he would be received by a young audience if he joined these media outlets for an interview. The challenging questions, and comments. But in my mind, I think the fact that he actually engaged with these outlets in the first place, and acknowledged their influence with this demographic, and within the media landscape – would actually be to his advantage, and a positive thing. If I were on his team, I would absolutely be getting him on air with these journalists and podcasters – because even if he’s hit with challenging questions, at least he’s taking them seriously.
As The Daily Aus pointed out in their post, last week the leaders did debate – but behind a paywall. A paywall that not many young people would be able to access. The result? They miss out on watching the debate, and hearing directly from the parties. And where do they get their news? Social media (for 27% of young women, it is their only source of news).
So the question on my mind is: Will Dutton rise to the occasion this election, or will he continue to overlook the voices of the next generation? It’s puzzling and alarming. By not engaging with young people, the Liberal Party risks reinforcing the perception that they are out of touch with this demographic. And I am writing this as a genuine swinging voter, and as a young person working in the media.
The clock is ticking, and people are waiting – and young people aren’t going anywhere.
Disclaimer: As we near the 2025 Australian Federal Election, Missing Perspectives will be platforming various voices and perspectives about Australian politics and the election. The opinions and/or views expressed by individual contributors and interviewees represent the opinions of those people, and not necessarily those of Missing Perspectives.
