A senior Labor Party powerbroker used a song containing the n-word and lewd sexual references in a social media video aimed at attracting the Generation Z vote.
Posting Australia’s Future, a Tik Tok account sanctioned by Paul Erickson, the national secretary of the federal Labor Party, regularly shares clips and memes praising Anthony Albanese and criticizing opposition leader Peter Dutton.
But a recent post has raised eyebrows among the Liberal Party after it attempted to promote the government’s recent announcement that it would remove $3 billion from more than three million Help loans, formerly called HECS.
The new legislation means the average balance of $27,000 will result in a refund of around $1,200.
Australia’s Future publication shared an image of Kim Kardashian looking serene with a full face of makeup while sleeping soundly under a duvet.
“How I sleep knowing the Labor Party is about to literally erase 20% of my HECS debt,” the image caption read.
The still image was overlaid with a song called ‘Type Sh**’ by rap artists Future, Metro Boomin, Travis Scott and Playboi Carti.
The lyrics featured include the lines: ‘Cook and cook like shit type food (fuck it, fuck it).
Posting Australia’s Future, a Tik Tok account sanctioned by Paul Erickson (pictured), the national secretary of the federal Labor Party, regularly shares clips and memes praising Anthony Albanese and criticizing opposition leader Peter Dutton.
But a recent post (pictured) has raised eyebrows among the Liberal Party after it attempted to promote the government’s recent announcement that it would scrap $3bn of more than three million Help loans, formerly called HECS.
The account, which has just 379 followers, says it is “authorized by P. Erickson, Australian Labor Party, Canberra”.
‘Posted with my dogs, Scooby-Doo type shit (fuck it, whoo).
“She grabs all my balls, I have to move, dude shit.”
The caption accompanying the post, written in an attempt at ‘youth speak’, read: ‘Nevermind though that costs like $5500 omg #hecs #auspol #students.’
The account, which has just 379 followers, says it is “authorized by P. Erickson, Australian Labor Party, Canberra”.
Daily Mail Australia has approached Mr Erickson for comment.
A federal Labor MP who did not want to be named mocked TikTok’s incursion by sharing a meme with Daily Mail Australia.
It was a scene from the hit US TV show 30 Rock when Steve Buscemi’s middle-aged character dons a backwards cap, a hoodie and a skateboard before trying to ingratiate himself with high school students.
‘How are you, mates?’ he says awkwardly.
A federal Labor MP who did not want to be named mocked TikTok’s incursion by sharing a meme with Daily Mail Australia (pictured).
The Meme Encyclopedia website Know Your Meme said the particular meme “has since come to represent all egregious attempts to appeal to subcultures.”
Labour’s attempt to woo debt-ridden university graduates through cutting-edge internet culture appears to have failed.
The post alone attracted more than 1,300 views and generated just six comments, all negative.
“Oh well, I have to pay someone else’s debt,” one wrote.
Others suggested they were trying to “take credit” for a policy originally pushed by the Greens.
The Government has been accused of trying to “buy votes” by not introducing the policy until after next year’s elections, to encourage young people to vote for them.
“They are offering student debt relief as a carrot for the next election,” said Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi.
“It’s Labor who are playing games because they only care about votes, not helping people who are struggling right now.”
Mr Erikson, who has experience in the trade union movement, is a decisive man in the Labor Party and belongs to the left faction.
He was appointed national secretary in August 2019 and was campaign manager in Labour’s 2022 federal election campaign.
Mr Erikson, who has experience in the trade union movement, is a decisive man in the Labor Party and belongs to the left faction.
After the party’s election victory, he said the Labor campaign reached out to undecided voters to make sure they were “haunted” by the idea of three more years under a Scott Morrison government.
“The biggest barrier Labor had to overcome was not voters’ assessment of our proposal, or a Coalition counter-offer, but a deep and widespread sense of fatigue, anxiety and risk aversion after some of the most difficult years that we have had.” “I’ve endured,” Erickson told the National Press Club in June 2022.
‘Normally, these sentiments would bring the undecided decisively back to the government of the day and would weigh heavily against an effort to build a majority for change. However, we had a powerful argument.
‘We asserted that the alternatives in this election were not ‘the devil already known’ or ‘a leap into the unknown’; instead, it was a clear choice between a better future under Anthony Albanese and three more years of Scott Morrison.’
Erickson said he believed the Labor Party was capable of “cultivating, elevating and stoking the mood for change”.
It remains to be seen whether the party can achieve the same feat in next year’s federal election.