Federal election 2025: Defence veterans running for Parliament cautioned against wearing uniform for material

A string of veterans running for Parliament have been cautioned by Defence brass against using photos in uniform as part of their election material.

But the repeated pleas not to politicise the military are set to be ignored as politicians who have served say they deserve to be able to illustrate their background for voters.

Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie, WA Liberal candidates Vince Connelly and Jan Norberger, Victorian MP Keith Wolahan and NSW Liberal candidate James Brown are among those who have used photos of themselves in uniform on their social media.

Defence issued the edict when asked what its policy was relating to current and former personnel running for office.

“Defence respectfully requests those standing for political office to refrain from using imagery of themselves in uniform or imagery of ADF personnel as part of any campaign material,” a spokesperson said.

They would not comment publicly on individual candidates.

“Defence acknowledges the contribution of former Australian Defence Force personnel,” the spokesperson said.

But Neil James, from the Australian Defence Association, said using pictures in uniform is fine in some contexts as long as it did not look like Defence was endorsing any particular political candidate.

“Just as the Defence force must stay out of politics, politicians have to keep the Defence force out of politics,” he said.

Whether a photo was appropriate or not was more clear cut when used on pamphlets, corflutes or billboards, but social media complicated things.

“If you put out a pamphlet where the cover of the pamphlet had only a photo of you in uniform, that would be inappropriate,” he said.

“If you had a corflute that had only you in uniform, that would be inappropriate.

“But if you put up a billboard that has three or four photographs of it and only one of them is the person in uniform and the other things show other aspects of their life, that’s OK because no one looking at that is going to be confused.

“The problem with social media is you have lots and lots of TikToks or something on your website, and a lot of them will only be talking about you being in the military, and people will only look at them.

“They won’t look at the other TikToks, which have them, you know, being a baker, candlestick maker, car salesman, you name it.”

Mr James said it was “high time” the Australian Electoral Commission made some regulations about what was allowable.

Mr Hastie has run into these concerns at previous elections and in 2016 was discharged from Army Reserves after refusing to remove images of himself in uniform from his campaign posters.

He has posted photos of himself and Liberal candidate for Bullwinkel Matt Moran in camos in Afghanistan twice on social media since December, juxtaposed with a modern photo of the pair in the same pose. These were not crossposted on Mr Moran’s account.

He has also appeared in two videos with Mr Brown, posted on both men’s social media, discussing their service and featuring photos of them in uniform.

The cover image on one of the Instagram videos is the uniformed photo, rather than the pair in Liberal Party t-shirts.

Mr Hastie did not comment when asked why he continued to use such images or whether he would seek to change the policy if he became Defence minister.

Mr Norberger has posted two videos introducing himself that feature a photo of him wearing Air Force uniform.

“My six years in the Royal Australian Air Force were vital in fuelling my commitment to public service,” he said.

“Briefly sharing a personal photo from that period as a part of my campaign video helped to illustrate my personal journey.”

Similarly, Mr Wolahan shows himself in uniform and in his barrister’s robes in a video talking about why he is seeking re-election.

“Defence’s policy does not apply to former members. But I still take the ADF’s nonpartisan reputation seriously,” he said.

“Showing a picture of me having served in uniform is merely highlighting who I am and my life experience. No reasonable person would fairly interpret it any other way.”

Labor MP Luke Gosling has previously fallen afoul of Defence’s wishes, repeatedly using an image of himself in uniform on his corflutes. However, his posters this election appear to feature only a photo in civilian clothes.