TLDR
One Nation's AI-generated 'Coming Out' ad for the 28 November Victorian state election pulled more than 59,000 Facebook views and 21,000 Instagram likes within days of release. Political advertising sits outside Ad Standards' jurisdiction, and online-only distribution places it beyond the broadcast rules the Australian Communications and Media Authority enforces.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What the ad shows and how far it travelled
One Nation released its 'Coming Out' advertisement on 6 October 2026, seven weeks before the Victorian state election fixed for 28 November 2026.[1] Among its scenes is an AI-generated presenter styled as an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News reader, who says the ABC should be defunded.
Within days of release, the ad had accumulated more than 21,000 Instagram likes, 30,000 Instagram shares and 59,000 Facebook views.[2] Viewer reactions split sharply. One viewer said: "Best political ad I have ever seen. It's a winner." Another dismissed it as "AI slop."[3] One Nation, Stepmates Studios and the ABC did not respond to requests for comment from Mumbrella.
The regulatory gap
Ad Standards, the industry body that administers Australia's advertising self-regulation system, explicitly excludes political advertising from its jurisdiction.[4] A complaint about the 'Coming Out' ad lodged with Ad Standards lands nowhere.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) administers blackout rules under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, which impose time limits on television and radio political advertising. ACMA's guidance says online services 'can still publish election or referendum ads during a blackout period'.[5] The 'Coming Out' ad appeared only on Instagram and Facebook, placing it entirely outside ACMA's reach.
Victoria's expanded anti-vilification framework is the only active instrument that could theoretically apply. The Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Act 2025 extended civil protections to attributes including gender identity, sex and sexual orientation, with those civil remedies taking effect on 15 April 2026.[6] No legal action has been reported and no determination has been made.
The ABC imitation question
The ABC did not respond to Mumbrella, so whether it objects to an AI-generated reader styled as its own news brand appearing in a party's ad is not yet known. For any brand, the case shows how cheaply a recognisable on-screen identity can now be imitated in political content that no advertising code covers.
Melbourne's Stepmates Studios, a 2D cut-out animation studio, made the ad; its website says it produces the party's 'Please Explain' series on six-day production sprints.[7] The studio's co-founder, Mark Nicholson, is also One Nation's lead candidate for Northern Metropolitan Region.
What agencies and media buyers are looking at
That broadcast rules stop at the edge of online services is long-standing law, but it reads differently when the content is AI-generated and the shares run into the tens of thousands. For agencies working on political accounts, the position is now documented on the record: social media political advertising in Australia carries no industry body oversight, no broadcast authority constraint and no pre-clearance requirement, regardless of how the content was generated or whose likeness it uses.
The Victorian election is scheduled for 28 November 2026.[1]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why can't Ad Standards act on this ad?
Does ACMA have any power over social media political ads?
Could Victoria's anti-vilification laws apply?
Who produced the ad?
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
