There are many reasons why Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led a resounding victory over Peter Dutton at the federal election, but one moment that has largely gone unreported is when he taunted the opposition leader by labelling him ‘delulu with no solulu’.
Albo was addressing Dutton’s energy and economic plan in Parliament, which he said would require unnamed cuts to public services.
The Gen Z phrase was an odd choice of phrase by a politician, let alone the Prime Minister, but the reason for the outburst was finally revealed on the first day of Cairns Crocodiles, presented by Pinterest.
Lucy Jackson and Nikki Westcott—influencers, fashion designers, wine producers and hosts of the Happy Hour podcast—said that prior to his outburst, they had Albanese on their show, at his request.
“He came on and subscribed to the format of our podcast. And so we spoke about girly things, rather than politics,” Jackson said, explaining that this included Albo giving dating advice to Gen Z.
“So anyway, as part of it, we were talking about Gen Z slang terms, and we were telling him about ‘delulu with no solulu’. And just as an off-the-cuff comment, I said, ‘You should throw that one in Parliament. Then next week, he said that Peter Dutton is ‘delulu with no solulu’ and it just went viral.”
For those over the age of 25, that translates to ‘delusional without a solution’.
The 2025 federal election was the first time Gen Zs outnumbered Baby Boomers; the advice of “reaching the audience where they’re going to listen” seems to be particularly pertinent in this case. The Daily Aus, known for its popularity with Gen Zs, was joined by Albo on its podcast in the lead-up to the federal election, while Dutton declined to be interviewed.
Team Jackson & Westcott
Speaking to Listnr podcasts executive head Grant Tothill and a packed Cairns Convention Centre auditorium, Jackson and Westcott were talking about their journey, which started out as part of the Red Bull Wings team to becoming Instagram influencers (inspired by a moment at Coachella, obvs). They then entered the fashion world by launching Jagger & Stone, launching the Happy Hour podcast and a new wine label, Jackson & West.
“We’d always sort of toyed with the idea, because it makes sense in our portfolio of being huge party girls,” Westcott said.
The pair, whose business is based in Burleigh Heads, advised marketers looking to partner with influencers to make sure their brand authentically aligns with a creator’s style of content.
Another hot tip: allow a creator’s personality to shine through, and don’t be too specific in a brief.
Westcott said there have been occasions where there has been so much micromanaging throughout the process that, “you could have probably just paid actors to do that”.
“If you advertise with us, it’s an opportunity to be authentic and actually reach our audience where they’re going to listen.”
When Albo dived into the Happy Hour podcast format it paid dividends with their audience. Nonetheless, some political observers might question whether his use of Gen Z lingo is authentic, or more a case of being ‘delulu with no solulu’.
