AI-generated political advertising depicting violent and alarming scenes has been circulated widely on social media in the run-up to the Victorian state election, and was paid for at a scale that observers say outstrips typical party digital spending.
The adverts, produced for groups calling themselves Fix Victoria and Better Victoria, use synthetic images to dramatise public-service shortfalls and fiscal warnings. Examples include a masked man with a machete attacking a petrol station worker, a woman giving birth on the roadside because of ambulance delays, and a torrent of water pouring from the steps of state parliament to illustrate a predicted debt rise to $199bn over the next four years.
Who is paying and who is behind the ads?
Corporate filings show Fix Victoria was registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in early August by Deborah Henderson, who until June was deputy executive director of the free-market Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). The group's communications director is Andrew Hudgson, another recent IPA staffer, and its head of advocacy is Gideon Rozner, who previously spent six years at the IPA before moving into the private sector.
The group has sought paying members to help finance operations and advertising, and one expert quoted in reporting estimated that the Fix Victoria campaign cost up to $100,000 to publish in August — a sum described as “significantly more” than most parties and candidates typically allocate to similar digital buys.
"Issues-driven, not politics-driven"
Fix Victoria's staff say the organisation is separate from the IPA and that it is coincidental several team members previously worked at the same thinktank. The campaign's stated emphasis, according to its messaging, is on policy issues rather than formal party politics.
Two campaigns, different angles
While Fix Victoria focuses on public-service failures and fiscal risk, Better Victoria is running shorter adverts that challenge Labor initiatives such as the multibillion-dollar Suburban Rail Loop. Better Victoria frames its messaging as a choice between heavy investment in flagship infrastructure and spending on roads, schools and hospitals.
- Fix Victoria — registered with ASIC in early August; former IPA staff in senior roles; high-cost AI-driven adverts.
- Better Victoria — running short ads targeting Labor’s spending priorities, including the Suburban Rail Loop.
| Person | Role with Fix Victoria | Previous position |
|---|---|---|
| Deborah Henderson | Registered Fix Victoria with ASIC | Deputy executive director, IPA (until June) |
| Andrew Hudgson | Communications director | Communications role, IPA (until earlier this year) |
| Gideon Rozner | Head of advocacy | Six years at the IPA; later worked at an investment firm |
Campaign finance and accountability advocates will view such arrangements through the lens of transparency. Political advertising rules and disclosure requirements vary across jurisdictions, and the use of AI to generate evocative imagery raises fresh questions about provenance and editorial control — particularly when adverts reach large online audiences close to polling day.
Digital campaigning has been a battleground for parties and interest groups for more than a decade, but the combination of synthetic visual content and substantial paid reach presents a new challenge for regulators and news consumers alike. Observers note the potential for AI-generated material to amplify fear or confusion, even when the underlying policy argument is factual.
The timing of the campaign is notable. With fewer than 100 days to go until polling in Victoria, high-spend, high-impact adverts can shape the public conversation. The scale of the reported expenditure and the involvement of former IPA operatives — given that organisation's long-standing criticism of Labor — will invite scrutiny over whether the groups are operating as genuinely independent issue campaigns or as proxies for partisan interests.
Fix Victoria and Better Victoria have positioned themselves as issue-oriented. Their critics say such groups can nevertheless exert partisan influence when their messaging aligns with a particular political outlook and when staffing and funding trace back to known advocacy networks. That conflict — between declared independence and practical effect — is likely to be a focus of debate as the election approaches.
Regulators and parliamentarians concerned with electoral integrity will be watching the campaign and its spend closely in the coming weeks.
