In September of 2018 Mr. Bandt posted a photo to his Facebook profile featuring himself and his wife, Claudia Perkins. In the post, Mr. Bandt referred to his wife as "hot":
"With hot wife at Bangarra opening night of ‘Dark Emu’"
Numerous media outlets reported on the incident and its online response, with 1500 people reportedly commenting on the Facebook post.
One commenter suggested Mr. Bandt hire a social media adviser and equated the "outburst" to Donald Trump in response to the post:
“Be more measured in your social media posts. This is not a public statement, it is a private one. Have a firm word with your social media adviser or hire one if you are in danger of misjudged Trumpish outbursts like this.”
"Mega Hot Wife 🔥🔥🔥"
“It’s OK everyone, I’m completely fine with this post! It was just a reference to how hot we are for each other even after 11 years together 😍💘💋”
Mr. Bandt has previously referred to his wife as "hot" in an Instagram post in March of that same year:
"'When your hot wife takes you out for birthday cocktails and you remember just how much you‘ve totally scored."
Adam Bandt is the leader of the Australian Greens Party. Mr. Bandt was formerly a member of the Australian Labor Party but left the party in response to the increase in costs for higher education. He joined The Greens in 2004 and worked for 10 years as an industrial lawyer at Slater and Gordon. Mr. Bandt was first preselected as the Greens' candidate for the federal electorate of Melbourne at the 2007 election but was defeated by Labor's Lindsay Tanner. He was then successful in the 2010 election defeating Labor's newcomer candidate, Cath Bowtell. Mr. Bandt became the Leader of the Greens in 2020 following the resignation of Richard Di Natale.