My Priorities

As a community-backed Independent, I’m committed to meeting the needs of our community.

We all know the major parties are failing us on the big issues.

Cost of living, housing affordability, our environment; even managing the economy. The major parties are too busy fighting each other to get anything done.

They have too many vested interests, too many corporate donors, and they have lost touch with people like us.

They are good at toeing the party line to serve their own agendas. But they have forgotten how to listen to our community. They have forgotten how to serve the interests of regular Australians.

And they have forgotten how to be genuine and act with integrity.

As an independent, I’m committed to doing politics differently.

I’m not locked into a party position and I don’t have to follow a party line. I am independent of that. 

My agenda is doing what’s right for our community.

No political party has a mortgage on good policy. Where the major parties adopt policies that are good for our community, I will support them.

And where they are failing our community, I’ll be there to hold them accountable.

I will give our community a genuine voice that the major parties cannot ignore. 

The issues:

As a Community Independent, my priorities are what matters most to our community. What you are telling me is that the major parties are failing us on three critical issues:

  • Cost of living & housing affordability
  • Our environment
  • Government transparency

I agree – and as I see it, these issues are connected.

Continue reading for my proposals and policies in a number of critical areas for our community and the Fremantle electorate.

--> Cost of Living, Housing Affordability & Energy

The major parties are tinkering around the edges with our housing crisis and cost of living.

Short-term payments such as energy bill relief and temporary cuts to fuel excise are band aids on a much bigger problem.

The rising cost of living and the housing crisis are causing real pain for people across our community. 

I believe that every Australian has the right to a safe and affordable roof over their head, and every Australian should be able to afford to buy basic necessities.

But right now, the major parties are avoiding the real problems and protecting their corporate donors while the rest of us are getting ripped off.

Here’s a few examples:

  • A tax system that benefits investors over renters and first home buyers.
  • Dodgy deals with gas companies mean we are not getting a fair deal for gas that we own, which is being sold overseas.
  • Energy policies that keep us locked in to expensive and polluting fossil fuels.

I believe we need to stop tinkering around the edges and start to tackle the underlying issues that are driving the housing crisis and the cost of living in Australia.

Cost of Living

We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but everyday Aussies are no longer getting a fair deal. 

The major parties are putting their corporate donors and vested interests first, instead of everyday people in our community. 

But it does not need to be that way.

By standing up to the major parties we can tackle the root causes of the cost of living crisis.

My priorities in this area are:

  1. Make sure everyone can access clean, affordable renewable energy including renters and small businesses who need special assistance. This means reducing reliance on fossil fuels and rejecting expensive nuclear options.
  2. Real assistance to help households reduce energy use and cut bills, such as support and incentives for solar systems, batteries, more efficient appliances, and phasing out expensive gas use.

  3. Make sure we are getting a fair deal from our gas exports, not getting ripped off by gas export companies. See my five-point plan to get a fair deal from gas exports here.
  4. Raise the rate of welfare and student payments to lift people out of poverty, we are a wealthy nation that can afford this.

  5. Index Medicare rebates to inflation, increase bulk billing, bolster NDIS support and include dental and mental health cover in Medicare.

  6. Reduce unnecessary red tape and tax burdens on small businesses that drive up operating costs.
  7. Work toward offering free further education for all, by (initially) reducing the cost of degrees and TAFE courses and capping student debt. Increase funding for universities and TAFEs to ensure equitable, accessible education pathways for all.
  8. Invest in expanded public transport networks across Australia and incentivise free or capped fares for all Australians.

Pay for these improvements by introducing tax reforms that ensure large and multinational corporations and ultra-wealthy individuals pay a fairer share of tax, instead of the tax burden being carried by working people and small, Australian-owned businesses. This would increase our tax income in line with other developed countries.

Housing

As one of the wealthiest countries in the world, all Australians should expect equitable access to good quality, well designed and affordable homes located in suburbs where they feel connected to their communities, friends and families.

Ensuring that everyone has a safe place to sleep – at a bare minimum – should be a priority for leaders, especially considering that secure housing impacts so many other factors, including physical and mental health, education, anti-social behaviour, domestic violence, and overall life satisfaction.

Ensuring that new developments are built with people in mind, not profits (especially with a focus on building strong communities) will help foster a connected, happy and thriving population to encourage improved outcomes for us all.

My priorities in this area are to:

  1. Increase supply of low-cost, well-made, energy efficient homes of all types that people and families can afford to live in, and that support healthy communities.

  2. Get the tax incentives right – transition the incentives that benefit individual investors and drive up prices, towards incentives that stimulate supply of affordable housing options for renters, low-income families and new home buyers.
  3. Introducing measures to ensure home ownership or secure long-term rental is attainable to all those who want it (e.g. through community trusts, low interest loans, or rent-to-buy programs).
  4. Invest more in training and skills so we have more qualified tradies (through supporting businesses who employ apprentices), and more quality homes being built at affordable prices.
  5. Utilise the National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness to hold the States accountable for:
    1. Investment and reforms to public housing
    2. Actionable plans to end homelessness using the Housing First model
    3. Placing fair limits on rent increases, tied to inflation
  6. Tighten parameters for foreign property investment to prevent investment that leaves homes and vacant land empty. Ban political donations from property developers.
Energy

Right now rising energy bills are affecting homes and businesses, along with the cost of almost everything we buy. But it doesn’t need to be that way.

If we stop treating it as a political football, the energy transition is a huge opportunity for our community and our economy. Here in WA, we can continue to be a global economic powerhouse by powering our industries and community with low-cost clean energy.

This transition can deliver thousands of jobs, while also helping reduce the cost of living for homes and families by delivering clean and affordable renewable energy.

Instead, the major parties are playing politics with energy, and pushing the most expensive forms of energy such as gas and even more expensive nuclear power.

My priorities in this area are:

  1. Deliver clean, affordable, renewable energy for everyone – that means no expensive nuclear and no new gas. Support and pursue equitable expansions of Labor’s battery rebates.
  2. Speed up our energy transition with clear renewable energy targets and a legislated plan to provide certainty for business and investors and to drive innovation. We need to stop the short-termist political distractions and delays.
  3. Electrify our cities and towns with widespread incentives for homes and businesses to go fully electric and to install storage, plus more investment in electrified public transport and incentives for electric vehicles.
  4. Increase government investment in making the grid more resilient, and build storage capacity within the grid and in homes. 

See my five-point plan to get a fair deal from our gas exports here.

See my statement on climate change, energy and the environment here.

--> Health, Education & Community

Equitable access to high quality services, be it health, child care, aged care, or education, has long been considered a fundamental promise of the Australian way. But this is being eroded by government policy allowing an ever-aggressive private sector to prioritise profits before people.

My priorities in this area include:

  1. Universal, equitable access to public health care, and well-designed and structured services that enact expert advice to ensure all Australians have access to the care they need, when they need it.
  2. More equal and equitable investment into early childhood care, education, and aged care – to ensure caring for our young and old is a national priority, not a profit-making scheme for private industry.
  3. Reform to funding models for the community sector who deliver essential services to the most vulnerable in our community to provide more certainty and career pathways to staff.
  4. Address vacancy, revitalise our cities and strengthen our economy by boosting small business.

  5. Sustainable support for ambitious cultural initiatives, in all forms and at all levels, including film, music, writing, visual art, design, architecture, poetry, comedy and theatre – including spaces to exhibit, experiment and rehearse, as well as better access for audiences.
  6. Increased investment in First Nations-led initiatives and programs to address the Closing the Gap objectives, which are not being met by current approaches. 

--> Our Environment

Ensuring a safe climate and a healthy environment is fundamental to maintaining our incredible quality of life, both for now and for future generations.

The costs of climate change are affecting our farmers, our energy systems, and our communities. These impacts are driving up costs in almost every sector, and households are feeling the consequences.

By failing to stand up to big business and vested foreign interests, the major parties have allowed others to profit while our environment and our future prosperity are put at risk.

My priorities in this area are:  

  1. Strengthened national laws to protect nature, including our reefs, forests, and native wildlife and the quality of life that they provide. This includes an independent national Environmental Protection Agency – as promised by Labor at the last election.
  2. No new, expanded or extended fossil fuel projects, and a transition plan to eventually phase out gas use and exports in WA, including a phase out of gas export projects on Murujuga (the Burrup Peninsula).
  3. Introducing a job security guarantee for all fossil fuel workers affected by the transition to renewable energy.
  4. Urgent and permanent protection of special and unique places under threat from gas and other fossil fuel extraction including Scott Reef, the Kimberley, Murujuga and the Mid-west of WA.
  5. Introduce a national climate disaster fund to ensure that those profiting from climate pollution are paying for the costs of repairing the damage they cause.

See my statement on climate change, energy and the environment here.

--> Government Transparency & Integrity

I know people are fed up with our politicians – I am too. 

The major parties are uninspiring and simply not delivering. We are actively excluded from participating in our democracy, and we are worse off for it. 

The revolving door between politics and industry, as well as the influence of big donors, media and lobbyists on our government, has led to widespread disaffection with politics and politicians in Australia – especially in Fremantle. 

This feeling has impacted the way people engage and contribute to political debate, which has eroded trust and hope in our leaders, and has jeopardised our country’s future. 

I’m not like party politicians. As a Community Independent:

  • I represent you, not a political party.
  • I base decisions on the input of everyday people, experts and the best available evidence.
  • I’m not influenced to make decisions by the likes of property developers, the gambling lobby or multinational fossil fuel companies.

My priorities for reform in this area include:

  1. Legislated transparency and integrity measures for politicians and political parties, including banning political donations from social harm industries.
  2. Fair and equitable electoral rules that ensure a level playing field for all.
  3. A ban on ‘how to vote’ cards and lies in political advertising.
  4. Proper scrutiny over major public spending, including over the AUKUS deal, which is seeing Australian taxpayers send $30 million per day to an unstable US government. Read my full position on AUKUS here.
  5. A fair deal for Australians on our gas use and exports, and an end to the gas lobby’s stranglehold on our energy future. Read my five-point plan to get a fair deal from our gas exports.
  6. Backing calls for an inquiry into Australia’s lack of media diversity.