One Nation reportedly played an AI-generated campaign video at its Victorian campaign launch over the weekend, using a series of racist stereotypes. It depicts a man who appears to be African holding a machete, an apparently Middle Eastern man wearing an explosive vest, a south Asian man in a turban discussing “mass migration” and an Indigenous elder referring to payments based on need rather than identity.
Media coverage of the launch largely focused on Pauline Hanson’s reception from supporters, music played over loudspeakers and candidate Mark Nicholson’s pledge to jail Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan. The video’s opening scene, showing a young man presenting himself as conservative to his leftwing family, received particular attention.
The episode fits a broader pattern of AI-generated political material in Victoria. Conservative campaign group Advance produced an AI advertisement portraying a Labor election victory with Daniel Andrews popping champagne and leading a conga line. Liberal MP Jason Wood posted a fake image of Anthony Albanese arriving at a deserted airport, while AAP has debunked several AI-generated interview-style videos presented as having been filmed outside Parliament House.
AI tools lower the cost and difficulty of producing inflammatory political videos because campaigns do not need to hire a film crew or actors to stage such scenes. At an inquiry on Wednesday, Terry Flew of the Centre for AI Trust and Governance said Australia had no single agency responsible for all misinformation risks. That gap indicates why political uses of easily produced synthetic media can spread across several forms of oversight.