An Australian politician has joined OnlyFans as part of his campaign efforts ahead of the upcoming federal election.
Stephen Bates, an Australian Greens MP, has joined the subscription-based platform and posted his first video on his free-to-subscribe page.
He used the account to announce his party’s new policy to make a vital HIV-prevention medication free to anyone with a prescription.
Thousands of Australians take PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) and PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis) tablets each year, according to Bates.
The medications have been on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme since 2018 and costs about $31 per month with a prescription.
But the Queensland Greens MP claims the growing gap payment means users can be out of pocket hundreds of dollars a year, which he added that in a ‘cost of living crisis is just too much’.
Making the medications free would ensure people in the LGBTQ+ community would live long and healthy lives, Bates said, adding that the policy goes ‘hand in hand’ with the Greens’ other healthcare initiatives, including free contraception.
Bates took part in a campaign titled ‘You always come first with the Greens’ in 2022 which saw him promote his policies on the LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr.
He decided to add OnlyFans, which is visited by Australians more than 28 million times each month, this election season as another way to reach voters.
Bates opened his first OnlyFans video playfully, saying: ‘Whoever said sex and politics doesn’t mix, hasn’t heard what I’ve got for you.
‘We’ve all heard that safe sex is great sex and we know it’s important to wrap before you tap,’ the gay MP for Brisbane continued.
‘But did you know that one of the most effective measures to prevent the transmission of HIV is actually costing individuals hundreds of dollars every year?
‘That’s why the Greens are launching our plan to make PrEP and PEP free for anyone with a prescription.’
He added: ‘You shouldn’t have to pay a fortune to be responsible. Ending HIV is too important to fly under the radar.’
PrEP is a tablet that people can take to reliably prevent HIV and is used by nearly 100,000 Australians.
Bates, reminding voters that the May 3 election will be very close and there is ‘real potential for a hung Parliament’, highlighted his party’s campaign efforts and encouraged voters to keep the Greens in power.
He then doubled down on his previous campaign mantra, concluding his video with: ‘You always come first with the Greens.’
The PrEP proposal would cost $6million per year but would be a measure to materially improve people’s lives and health, and also save the healthcare system money, the party has claimed.
The Greens have announced a suite of LGBTQI-friendly healthcare policies in the election campaign, including ending the ban on blood donations by gay men and making IVF accessible for same-sex couples.
The minor party also wants to establish a national LGBTQI human rights commissioner to ensure the community has the legal protections it needs.
‘The decision to establish this commissioner under the Human Rights Commission framework would be so that we have an institution outside the government that can hold government to account,’ Bates previously said of the proposal.
‘It’s so that we can examine discrimination in our society, but also provide an avenue for people in the community to take grievances too so that we can address discrimination across all aspects of the law.’
He also touted the benefits of the PrEP programme, telling Australian media: ‘So many people in the LGBTIQA+ community use PrEP to check themselves and others around them, so this announcement is so exciting to make sure that people have access to healthcare when they need it, and that it is free.’
With less than three weeks to go until the federal election, the Greens hope to hold the balance of power in a possible hung parliament.
However, Bates faces a tight three-way contest with Labor and the Liberals in his Queensland seat of Brisbane, which he won in 2022.
‘We’re hearing lots and lots of different issues in the community, but I think at the end of the day people in my electorate really don’t want Peter Dutton to be the prime minister,’ he said.
‘But they’re also thoroughly, thoroughly disappointed in the Albanese government … they have lost their way (and) I don’t think they know what they stand for anymore, other than trying to keep on winning elections.’
OnlyFans is a site that allows people to subscribe and access free or paid content, and is often used by adult content creators – although it is not exclusive to pornographic content.
The site hosts more than 4.1million creator accounts and has over 305million fan accounts registered, the platform reported in 2023.
According to statistics cited by the Greens, OnlyFans is visited over 28 million times per month by users based in Australia.
Bates does not intend to post any explicit or salacious content on OnlyFans, but is using it, as well as Grindr, to connect with voters.
He told 7NEWS Australia : ‘I campaign on OnlyFans and Grindr because it gets attention. Sometimes you have to make a splash to make people pay attention to the things that matter.’
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