A former Australian Idol host is running against Tony Abbott in the election.

Well, he has decided to take this election into his own hands, and is running against Tony Abbott as an independent is the upcoming Federal Election in Abbott’s seat of Warringah.

The 38-year-old father of two (when did that happen…?) has vowed to capture the youth vote in a bid to unseat the former Prime Minister who has held the spot for a marathon 22 years and still holds a considerable margin.

In a tweet from this morning, Mathison formally acknowledges his running bid, declaring “politics is broken” and that “only a strong independent movement can change the system”.

Speaking to NewsCorp about the news, Mathison said he decided to run after watching Abbott launch his campaign on Sky News two weeks ago, saying he felt he was listening to a politician who was promoting broken promises and empty offers.

“When he said ‘we’ll fix Brookvale Oval, we’ll fix public transport’ something in me said ‘hang on, I think you said that three years ago.’ So I looked up online and in 2001 he was saying these things and I just thought, ‘who is holding him to account?’ No one, because it’s a safe seat.”

Mathison also told NewsCorp that he believes an independent is exactly what the electorate needs, giving the youth someone new to invest in to call upon change.

“We’ve done a whole lot of stuff on policy, on our perspective that the youth vote matters, that independents are more powerful than you think, how Tony Abbott has lied over and over and over again and we’re going to roll them out in the coming days, just to get traction that way.”

The TV presenter is no stranger to activism and protests, just this month being carted away by police during a protest to stop Moreton Bay fig trees being felled at Moore Park in Sydney.

Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie has thrown her support behind Mathison’s campaign, telling the Today Show she is in full support of the news.

“I love independents. You go for it, James. Put those budgie smugglers on and give Tony Abbott a run,” she told the Today show on Saturday.

Watch Jacqui Lambie throw her support behind the campaign. Post continues after video.

“I am there for the electorate and if that means I’m out at 4am, outside The Steyne, outside The Boatshed,” Mathison told News Corp, laughing.

“I’ll be there. If I served kebabs instead of mints, imagine that?’

Trust us. We’re imagining.

And we have questions, too. Will Ricki-Lee be joining the campaign trail?