Play School Host Stood Down Over Old Credlin Posts
Former Play School host Rhys Muldoon has been stood down from a casual job in Tasmanian Labor senator Richard Dowling's office over historic posts about Peta Credlin. The Guardian The stand-down happened on 15 September 2026 after news.com.au first reported the comments. The posts are from 2022 and 2023.
In 2022 posts on X, Muldoon called Credlin "a strap on wearing fantasy for Liberals". In another X post he said he had met Credlin and described her as tall, intimidating and toxic, saying hatred oozed out of every pore. rhysam on X
News.com.au described the remarks as "vile sexual slurs". news.com.au Credlin publicly criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after Muldoon used the "strap-on fantasy" line.
Dowling said he decided "to not continue with his casual contract" after being told about Muldoon's "abhorrent tweets". Albanese said the stand-down was "appropriate". He backed the decision.
Muldoon went from Play School host to ALP staffer in Dowling's office. In a 2023 post he called Country Liberal Senator Price a "quisling" — meaning a traitor — because she did not support the Voice to Parliament. The resurfaced posts also included use of the N-word. The Sydney Morning Herald
Muldoon co-authored the children's book Jasper and Abby and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle with Kevin Rudd. He was a guest at the wedding of Albanese and Jodie Haydon.
The broader context here is how Senate staffing works. A casual contract lets a senator act fast. There is no lengthy process and no public fight about procedural fairness, just a decision not to continue once the tweets surfaced. That speed also protects the leadership. The Prime Minister did not have to defend the language or explain the appointment. He only had to endorse the outcome.
In my view, the warning for staffers is blunt. Old posts do not stay old. A 2022 insult and a 2023 swipe over the Voice can sit quietly for years, then end a job in one news cycle. Senators know this and staff should know it, yet these clean-outs keep happening. The politics is simple. No office wants to spend question time explaining a staffer's X account, and no leader wants questions about why that staffer was on his wedding guest list.
