# Albo vs Hannah Ferguson: Can the 28-year old media founder topple the PM?

An episode of [7am](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1461999702), 29 Jul 2026, 16 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/62723a1f-3e96-4fc4-882c-b25e0181da4d/01c77faf-8c8c-4212-9c91-b49600526b54/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=70f29d90-2a63-48aa-bf8f-b25e0181da70

Next election the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will have a new contender for his Sydney seat, with commentator and Cheek Media founder Hannah Ferguson announcing she’s taking a tilt. She says she’s started canvassing locals to find out what they want from their representative, and that she’s already been warned that attempts to build a dirt file on her have begun. Today, we speak with Hannah Ferguson, and political journalist Karen Middleton, about what it takes to actually oust a PM, and what else could be in store. If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support. Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: Candidate for Grayndler Hannah Ferguson and press gallery journalist Karen Middleton Photo: AAP Image/ Lukas Coch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to seven AM. Next election,
[0:09] Speaker 1: the Prime Minister Anthony Albernezi will have a new contender
[0:12] Speaker 1: for his Western Sydney seat, with commentator and Cheek Media
[0:15] Speaker 1: founder Hannah Ferguson announcing she's taking a tilt.
[0:19] Speaker 2: She says she's started canvassing.
[0:21] Speaker 1: Vocals to find out what they want from their representative,
[0:24] Speaker 1: and that she's already been warned that attempts to build
[0:26] Speaker 1: a dirt file on her have forgotten. Today we speak
[0:30] Speaker 1: with Hannah Ferguson and political journalist Karen Middleton about what
[0:33] Speaker 1: it takes to actually oust a PM and what else
[0:36] Speaker 1: could be in store. It's Thursday, July thirty. So, Hannah,
[0:48] Speaker 1: you've been planning a move into politics for quite some
[0:51] Speaker 1: time now. But the seat that you've chosen and the
[0:55] Speaker 1: opponent in it, the Prime Minister, couldn't be.
[0:58] Speaker 2: More of a challenge.
[0:59] Speaker 1: So why did you decide to take on the Prime
[1:01] Speaker 1: Minister now?
[1:02] Speaker 3: But easy?
[1:03] Speaker 4: Yeah, So Graindlaw, where the Prime Minister currently represents, is
[1:06] Speaker 4: my home electorate and last year when I announced the
[1:09] Speaker 4: Senate run, I was so passionate about challenging in the
[1:12] Speaker 4: Senate as an independent, but the more I had conversations
[1:15] Speaker 4: with locals, the more I was talking to the people
[1:17] Speaker 4: around me, the question just kept coming up towards the
[1:19] Speaker 4: end of last year and started this year, which is, well,
[1:22] Speaker 4: why not graindlerw why not a crack at the Lower House?
[1:24] Speaker 4: And I think, to be honest with you, in part
[1:26] Speaker 4: that was because it is the seat that he holds,
[1:29] Speaker 4: and that is a big pursuit and it's something I
[1:31] Speaker 4: take incredibly seriously. So for me, it's about listening to
[1:34] Speaker 4: the local community, hearing the frustration and disappointment, and then saying, okay, well,
[1:38] Speaker 4: now it's an opportunity to start hosting these community events,
[1:41] Speaker 4: to understand, to engage, to see this appetite for an
[1:44] Speaker 4: independent campaign here and what the issues are at a
[1:46] Speaker 4: local and national level that people.
[1:48] Speaker 2: Around me care about.
[1:50] Speaker 4: As soon as I started hosting local events and you know,
[1:52] Speaker 4: engaging in that way. Of course, the media has kind
[1:55] Speaker 4: of reported on it, and it's all come out very
[1:57] Speaker 4: very early, But it's still something I'm passionate about. But
[1:59] Speaker 4: I believe in that we are all entitled to better
[2:02] Speaker 4: community representation.
[2:03] Speaker 1: And I know that you're only at the very beginning
[2:06] Speaker 1: of this. You've just studied hosting these community meetings to
[2:09] Speaker 1: hear from the electorate, But how are you thinking about
[2:12] Speaker 1: your platform and what you're going to be advocating for.
[2:15] Speaker 2: Well, already the things that I'm hearing from the community
[2:18] Speaker 2: are around specifically gambling regulation, artificial intelligence regulation, how we're
[2:22] Speaker 2: taxing and actually regulating data centers as they are brought
[2:25] Speaker 2: to Australia and expanded rapidly in different parts of Australia,
[2:28] Speaker 2: including the Cooks River, which is kind of local to
[2:30] Speaker 2: my community as well.
[2:32] Speaker 4: And I think it's also about looking at things like
[2:33] Speaker 4: a gas export tax. Labours just had their national conference
[2:37] Speaker 4: and all of the issues that were on the table
[2:38] Speaker 4: that I think a lot of Australians at a national
[2:40] Speaker 4: level care about.
[2:42] Speaker 2: The descent was silenced, the debate was stifled.
[2:45] Speaker 4: I think there's so much frustration in the community at
[2:47] Speaker 4: a supermajority government that's sitting on their hands. They were
[2:50] Speaker 4: handed a mandate at the last federal election and yet
[2:54] Speaker 4: we are so frustrated and disappointed at the lack of action,
[2:58] Speaker 4: which I believe has contributed to one nation's rise. So
[3:01] Speaker 4: there are a few issues that I'm obviously deeply passionate
[3:04] Speaker 4: about that I continue hearing at every feedback session I'm
[3:07] Speaker 4: doing with locals at these community meetings. You know, I
[3:10] Speaker 4: keep saying the three g's for grain, block, gas, gambling,
[3:14] Speaker 4: and gaza.
[3:15] Speaker 2: People want action. They have an appetite for change.
[3:18] Speaker 1: And howa you come to politics with this ready made
[3:22] Speaker 1: media platform. You have always been upfront about your political ambitions,
[3:25] Speaker 1: but you've built Cheek not as a politician, as a
[3:29] Speaker 1: journalist or a commentator. You've been on seven AM in
[3:32] Speaker 1: that capacity. So how are you going to manage that?
[3:35] Speaker 1: How are you going to divide the media business, the journalism,
[3:38] Speaker 1: the commentating at Cheek from the politics.
[3:41] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[3:41] Speaker 4: So I have an amazing team of journalists that Cheek
[3:44] Speaker 4: has brought on board to facilitate this transition as well.
[3:47] Speaker 4: So there's a great team that I trust deeply to
[3:50] Speaker 4: continue delivering this progressive commentary platform that is trusted by
[3:54] Speaker 4: our audience. From my perspective, I've already been disclosing on
[3:58] Speaker 4: the opinion pieces that I produce for the platform, saying
[4:01] Speaker 4: that I intend to run as an independent candidate at
[4:03] Speaker 4: the next election. Obviously, this public transition from Senate to
[4:07] Speaker 4: the seat of Grainler really changes that dynamic. Like I
[4:10] Speaker 4: don't want to hide about that conflict as well. It's
[4:12] Speaker 4: loud and clear. But people also have been exposed to
[4:15] Speaker 4: my views every day, every week, every month for like
[4:17] Speaker 4: six years now as well. So I think people have
[4:20] Speaker 4: a familiarity with my belief systems and with my beliefs
[4:23] Speaker 4: and my belief systems and what I'm advocating for, and
[4:26] Speaker 4: I want to continue being honest and.
[4:27] Speaker 2: Upfront about my views.
[4:29] Speaker 4: But I also think there's an opportunity here. So I
[4:31] Speaker 4: think it's about handing over the team, ensuring that Cheek
[4:33] Speaker 4: is able to survive and thrive and criticize me too,
[4:37] Speaker 4: and sometime next year, depending on when the election will be,
[4:40] Speaker 4: I will step away from Cheek and run a campaign
[4:43] Speaker 4: full time.
[4:43] Speaker 1: It's difficult, though, isn't it, Because any critique that Cheek
[4:46] Speaker 1: now makes of Labor or Anthony ALBERNIZI, even if it's
[4:50] Speaker 1: not written by you, is going to be seen through
[4:52] Speaker 1: the lens of your candidacy.
[4:54] Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's a massive issue.
[4:56] Speaker 4: Like I'm going to sit here and say the hats
[4:58] Speaker 4: that I am trying to wear right now are genuinely impossible.
[5:02] Speaker 2: I'm not going to pretend.
[5:03] Speaker 4: Otherwise, because it's the thing that keeps me awake at
[5:05] Speaker 4: night every day I'm thinking about what is the best
[5:08] Speaker 4: path forward where I can serve our audience, because the
[5:10] Speaker 4: one thing that I don't want here is for Cheap
[5:13] Speaker 4: to become some sort of propaganda arm for a campaign.
[5:15] Speaker 2: That's not what I want now.
[5:16] Speaker 4: Of Course, every piece that we publish that is about
[5:19] Speaker 4: the Labour Party, that is about the government, that's about
[5:21] Speaker 4: the workings of parliament, people are going to assume that,
[5:24] Speaker 4: and I understand that. And actually it's a conversation that's
[5:27] Speaker 4: been ongoing with our team where I consistently am communicating
[5:29] Speaker 4: to journalists in our team, like how are you feeling
[5:32] Speaker 4: about this? I want your work to be valued, in
[5:34] Speaker 4: your voice, to be valued outside of mine and my
[5:36] Speaker 4: influence here too.
[5:37] Speaker 2: It's imperfect.
[5:38] Speaker 4: I know there's a conflict, but all I can do
[5:40] Speaker 4: for now is trust our editorial team to continuing their
[5:43] Speaker 4: job to the best of their ability, to share their opinions,
[5:46] Speaker 4: to continue publishing.
[5:47] Speaker 2: Great work, and for me to step out as much
[5:49] Speaker 2: as I can.
[5:50] Speaker 1: Being in the media, being a journalist or a commentator
[5:53] Speaker 1: isn't easy, but being a politician, I would say, is
[5:56] Speaker 1: even harder. You're going to be under a lot of
[5:58] Speaker 1: scrutiny for the next eighteen month months, particularly as a
[6:01] Speaker 1: young left leaning woman.
[6:03] Speaker 2: So how are you feeling about that? Oh? Terrified? Absolutely.
[6:06] Speaker 2: I mean it's so funny to me.
[6:08] Speaker 4: When people come to me and say, oh, is this
[6:10] Speaker 4: a publicity stunt. I don't know why any twenty eight
[6:13] Speaker 4: year old woman in Australian society would subject themselves to
[6:16] Speaker 4: the kind of coverage that I am expecting.
[6:18] Speaker 2: As well.
[6:19] Speaker 4: There is going to be blatant sexism, these assumptions of
[6:22] Speaker 4: capacity surrounding my age and my gender that I know
[6:26] Speaker 4: that's going to happen. It's already in comments sections.
[6:28] Speaker 2: I get it.
[6:29] Speaker 4: I'm going to be called an influencer a million times over.
[6:32] Speaker 4: I understand and I expect it. At the end of
[6:34] Speaker 4: the day, I've been a public person for five or
[6:36] Speaker 4: six years now and people know so much about me,
[6:39] Speaker 4: and I hope that's built a trust but also an
[6:42] Speaker 4: understanding of who I am authentically.
[6:44] Speaker 2: And I think that that's a really powerful thing to
[6:46] Speaker 2: be heading into this campaign with, is that I've been open.
[6:50] Speaker 4: I share so much of my life that I think,
[6:52] Speaker 4: actually that's a superpower that you know anything that and
[6:55] Speaker 4: I'm sure there will be a lot of kind of
[6:57] Speaker 4: attempts from different political operatives, from media Brits to undermine me.
[7:01] Speaker 4: I expect that I understand that it does not deter me,
[7:04] Speaker 4: because ultimately, all I can be is upfront and honest
[7:07] Speaker 4: and myself.
[7:08] Speaker 2: Have you heard from Albin Ezi or anyone in Labor
[7:10] Speaker 2: yet to be completely honest, Ruby.
[7:14] Speaker 4: A couple of months ago, I received through a different
[7:18] Speaker 4: sort of source, I tip off that Labor believed that
[7:22] Speaker 4: I might be running in the seat and that they
[7:24] Speaker 4: were building a dirt file on me.
[7:27] Speaker 2: I haven't heard anything since.
[7:28] Speaker 4: And it's designed to intimidate, that is designed to scare me,
[7:32] Speaker 4: and it hasn't.
[7:33] Speaker 2: And that was done a few months ago.
[7:34] Speaker 4: I don't know how true that was because it didn't
[7:36] Speaker 4: come directly from them, but it was designed to be
[7:38] Speaker 4: a tactic that was used to, you know, instill fear
[7:41] Speaker 4: in a young woman that wants to have a crack.
[7:43] Speaker 4: And I think that's really telling.
[7:46] Speaker 1: Well, Hannah, thank you so much for your time, Thank
[7:48] Speaker 1: you so much.
[7:51] Speaker 2: Still to come.
[7:51] Speaker 1: Press Gallery journalist Karen Middleton weighs in on Hannah's chances. So, Karen,
[8:04] Speaker 1: the Prime Minister Anthony ALBERNIZI, he's represented the seat of
[8:07] Speaker 1: Grandler for thirty years.
[8:09] Speaker 2: Now.
[8:09] Speaker 5: For myself, I will be satisfied if I can be
[8:12] Speaker 5: remembered as someone who will stand up for the interests
[8:15] Speaker 5: of my electorate, for working class people, for the labor movement,
[8:19] Speaker 5: and for our progressive advancement as a nation into the
[8:22] Speaker 5: next century. Thank you, missus.
[8:23] Speaker 1: Speaking Tell me though, a bit about what the electorate
[8:26] Speaker 1: used to be, like what Graandler was when he first
[8:29] Speaker 1: won it back in nineteen ninety six.
[8:30] Speaker 2: Well, it was much more working class.
[8:32] Speaker 3: It's a seat with a long history of working class residents.
[8:38] Speaker 5: Grandler is very much your working class electorate, alongside the
[8:41] Speaker 5: more established families. The nineteen ninety one census showed that
[8:44] Speaker 5: forty six percent of the total population of Grandler were
[8:47] Speaker 5: born overseas.
[8:48] Speaker 3: There are still areas that are as they were when
[8:52] Speaker 3: Anthony Alberanesi was young. The council house that he lived
[8:55] Speaker 3: in with his mother and grewuppian is still there and
[8:58] Speaker 3: it is still housing.
[9:01] Speaker 2: But this is in his bones. This is the place
[9:03] Speaker 2: that he grew up.
[9:04] Speaker 5: I grew up in public housing in the inner city
[9:07] Speaker 5: of Sydney as the son of a pensioner.
[9:10] Speaker 3: But over those decades it's become a lot more gentrified,
[9:13] Speaker 3: as people with more money you have moved in, and
[9:16] Speaker 3: so the demographic now is far more kind of white collar.
[9:20] Speaker 3: I suppose you'd say some of the bones of that
[9:23] Speaker 3: original Electric are still there, and the original demographic, for example,
[9:28] Speaker 3: Leichhart and Norton Street and areas like that that for
[9:30] Speaker 3: within that Electric have heavy Italian influence. Slowly, over the
[9:35] Speaker 3: years you've seen different waves of migration, So you've seen
[9:38] Speaker 3: migrants from China, migrants from India. So it's a far
[9:41] Speaker 3: more diverse population I think than it was when Anthony
[9:45] Speaker 3: Albanezi first won that seat.
[9:47] Speaker 1: And so has becoming Prime Minister changed his popularity in
[9:52] Speaker 1: the seat at all, because as PM, he's not just
[9:55] Speaker 1: making decisions for the electorate, he's making decisions for the
[9:58] Speaker 1: entire country.
[9:59] Speaker 3: Yes, and they're all always is when someone is elevated
[10:01] Speaker 3: to the Prime ministership, and it can kind of go
[10:04] Speaker 3: in both directions. So I think there's a section of
[10:06] Speaker 3: the population in his electorate who would say they're really
[10:10] Speaker 3: pleased that he is now the Prime Minister, and that
[10:13] Speaker 3: can increase your personal support in an electorate. But then
[10:17] Speaker 3: there's a cohort that might say, well, now that he's
[10:20] Speaker 3: the prime minister, he's not paying as much attention to
[10:22] Speaker 3: us in our seat, or he's not doing what we
[10:25] Speaker 3: thought he would do, or he's not the same politician
[10:29] Speaker 3: demonstrating the same values as he did when he was younger.
[10:33] Speaker 3: And so there can be criticisms as well, and I
[10:35] Speaker 3: think there's a little bit of both. But if you
[10:37] Speaker 3: look at Anthony Albaneze's vote in that seat over the
[10:41] Speaker 3: last few elections, it was.
[10:42] Speaker 2: Strong when he first won it.
[10:44] Speaker 3: Then through the period of the instability of Labor leadership,
[10:47] Speaker 3: the Raud Guillard Raud years, his personal vote dropped and
[10:51] Speaker 3: I think that reflected the general chaos in the Labor Party.
[10:54] Speaker 3: But since he became Prime Minister, and really since he
[10:57] Speaker 3: became opposition leader in twenty nineteen, his personal vote, his
[11:01] Speaker 3: primary vote has steadily increased. So you would think that
[11:05] Speaker 3: that is partly to do with the fact that he's
[11:07] Speaker 3: now the Prime minister, the leader of the country.
[11:10] Speaker 2: And then there's a degree of sort of local pride
[11:12] Speaker 2: in that.
[11:13] Speaker 1: And the Greens have made many unsuccessful attempts for Grandla
[11:17] Speaker 1: over the years, and that's led to notoriously testy relations
[11:21] Speaker 1: between Albanezi and the Greens. Given that what kind of campaign.
[11:26] Speaker 1: Do you think we're going to see Albanzi run against
[11:29] Speaker 1: the new threat of an independent like Hannah Ferguson.
[11:32] Speaker 3: Yeah, well this is interesting because that is the downside.
[11:35] Speaker 3: I suppose the upside is what we were just talking about.
[11:37] Speaker 3: For him, that extra support, the sense of we've got
[11:40] Speaker 3: the prime minister in our seat, but equally there can
[11:43] Speaker 3: be harsh critics and people who are dissatisfied. And I
[11:46] Speaker 3: think you've seen a rise in Green's support. The Greens
[11:49] Speaker 3: have done relatively well. He had a big fight on
[11:52] Speaker 3: his hands back in twenty sixteen. He's managed to see
[11:55] Speaker 3: off Green challenges since then. But now, as you say,
[11:58] Speaker 3: we've got this extra interesting dimension with Hannah Ferguson running
[12:02] Speaker 3: in the seat. She will be another young progressive force.
[12:07] Speaker 3: It's not clear whether the Greens will run their same
[12:11] Speaker 3: candidate that they had before they ran Hannah Thomas, you know,
[12:15] Speaker 3: just to make it doubly confusing, we're going to have
[12:16] Speaker 3: if they run her again, we'll have two Hannahs opposing
[12:20] Speaker 3: the Prime Minister. But he will be still very focused
[12:23] Speaker 3: on seeing off any threat that he sees from either
[12:27] Speaker 3: of those two candidates.
[12:29] Speaker 1: And how ruthless do you think he and the Labor
[12:32] Speaker 1: Party gap when it comes to something like this, because
[12:35] Speaker 1: I just spoke to Hannah Ferguson and she said that
[12:37] Speaker 1: she'd been told by a third party that there was
[12:39] Speaker 1: some sort of dirt file that had been compiled by
[12:41] Speaker 1: Labor about her already.
[12:43] Speaker 3: Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens. In fact, if we've
[12:48] Speaker 3: got a situation like we have now where there's another
[12:50] Speaker 3: party candidate or an independent challenging, the opponents will be
[12:55] Speaker 3: gathering up whatever they can find and holding that back
[12:58] Speaker 3: and probably rolling that out closer to the election to
[13:02] Speaker 3: sort of cast doubt in the minds of voters. It
[13:05] Speaker 3: can be a grubby business, Ruby, unfortunately, and it wouldn't
[13:09] Speaker 3: be the first time they've done it, so I'm not
[13:11] Speaker 3: surprised to hear that that might be happening.
[13:13] Speaker 1: And so Karen, we've seen former Prime Minister Tony Abbott
[13:16] Speaker 1: toppled by an independent, Zalie Steggel.
[13:18] Speaker 2: That was back in twenty nineteen.
[13:20] Speaker 1: Since then, the Teals have only grown in numbers, still
[13:24] Speaker 1: unseening a serving prime minister.
[13:26] Speaker 2: It's a huge ask. Can it be done?
[13:29] Speaker 3: Do you think, well, look, you never say never about
[13:31] Speaker 3: anything in these crazy political days. Given all sorts of
[13:35] Speaker 3: upsets that we've seen in recent years, you have to
[13:38] Speaker 3: say it is.
[13:38] Speaker 2: A big ask.
[13:39] Speaker 3: If you look at the primary vote that Anthony Albanezi
[13:42] Speaker 3: has achieved in Grainlower in the last two elections, it's
[13:45] Speaker 3: going to be extremely hard for a challenger to better
[13:49] Speaker 3: him when he's getting fifty to fifty three percent of
[13:52] Speaker 3: the primary vote. The other thing that is going to
[13:54] Speaker 3: be difficult for Hannah Ferguson and indeed the Greens is
[13:59] Speaker 3: that they could potentially split that extra vote, so it'd
[14:03] Speaker 3: be interesting to see where preferences go, but I think
[14:06] Speaker 3: they will struggle to unseat him.
[14:09] Speaker 2: Having said that, the thing that has.
[14:12] Speaker 3: Really gold in politics when you want to be a
[14:14] Speaker 3: candidate is having a public profile, having name recognition, and
[14:18] Speaker 3: certainly Hannah Ferguson has that because of her cheek media
[14:22] Speaker 3: enterprise and the fact that she's got a huge following
[14:24] Speaker 3: on social media and in fact, if Hannah Thomas was
[14:27] Speaker 3: to run again for the Greens, and she's also got
[14:30] Speaker 3: a higher profile now than she had before the last
[14:33] Speaker 3: election because she was involved in a protest, she was
[14:37] Speaker 3: involved in a struggle with police, and she, as we've
[14:41] Speaker 3: seen in the media, got terribly injured. She's lost sight
[14:45] Speaker 3: in one eye and that got a lot of coverage,
[14:47] Speaker 3: so she's got a profile too. So you're now dealing
[14:50] Speaker 3: with a slightly different contest than you had even in
[14:53] Speaker 3: twenty twenty five, and you'll be fascinating to see how
[14:56] Speaker 3: those votes go at the next election.
[15:00] Speaker 1: Karen, thank you so much for your time.
[15:02] Speaker 2: Thanks Ruby.
[15:16] Speaker 1: Also in the news, official inflation figures show prices are
[15:20] Speaker 1: not growing as fast as feared by the Reserve Bank,
[15:23] Speaker 1: meaning there's less chance of an interest rate rise next month.
[15:27] Speaker 1: Inflation fell to three point eight percent in June, compared
[15:30] Speaker 1: to economists forecasts of four point one percent, and the
[15:35] Speaker 1: federal government has confirmed that motorists will lose their fuel
[15:38] Speaker 1: discount from Monday. The scheme was introduced in April to
[15:41] Speaker 1: help motorists experiencing price shock due.
[15:43] Speaker 2: To the war with Iran.
[15:44] Speaker 1: Last week, oil prices crept over US one hundred dollars
[15:47] Speaker 1: a barrel for the first time since May.
[15:50] Speaker 2: I'm Ruby Jones.
[15:51] Speaker 1: This is seven am.
[15:52] Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.

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