Cudgen resident, small business owner, and Surf Life Saving volunteer, Nathan Jones, has put himself forward for the upcoming federal election as an Independent.
Mr Jones describes himself as a ‘swing voter’.
‘I am not a left- or right-wing voter, but think the middle ground is the best. Sensible compromise and mutual understanding is essential for parliamentary democracy’.
‘I have worked in many fields over the years, from agriculture, accountancy and teaching economics at schools and universities. I ran in the last Tweed Council election to get my name out there’.
Asked if he had any financial backers, he replied that when he ran for Tweed Council in December 2020, he ‘fully funded’ himself.
‘So far, 100 per cent of my funding for this federal campaign has come from myself and my wife; a teacher and a nurse’s salary. We are just trying our best to have a better government’.
‘We are not backed by any company or organisation or any union, although we are both members of the teachers and nurses unions’.
Election pledges
He says his campaign is centred around three words: ‘imagine, compassion and efficiency’.
‘Imagine your elected MP is Independent; they have no political party bosses/factions to please, but only vote with the interests of the people of Tweed, Byron and Ballina shires in their mind. Imagine every vote is a conscience vote after your MP listens to you. Imagine a number of Independents (or minor parties) hold the balance of power and all policies get a proper debate in our parliament rather than rushed through when one party has all the numbers. Imagine we, the people of Richmond, hold the “power of balance” in our Federal parliament’.
As for compassion, he says, ‘We have a growing population and an ageing population. We are in desperate need for more public/social/affordable housing. Our government needs to spend significantly more money for all frontline public services on aged care, childcare, disability care, health and education. We need compassionate solutions to people who live in our floodplains to help our most vulnerable to rebuild or relocate. And having affordable insurance is important.
‘We should all do our bit to get to net zero carbon emissions asap and heavily invest in the renewables, like wind, solar and hydro, that will get us there by 2040’.
As for efficiency, Mr Jones says, ‘To pay for any new commitment, a government must pay for it by either raising new taxes, or increase existing taxes, increase our debt, (and therefore raise taxes in the future), or they cut inefficient and wasteful spending’.
A Masters of Economics
‘I have a completed a Masters of Economics. My research thesis was completed in 2021, which studied The ABS “National accounts” – it’s publicly available for all and shows we spend $900 billion each year across our three layers of government. $75 billion of that money is spent on administration duplication at the State government level’.
For more info, visit www.nathanjones.net.au.
The line-up for the 2022 election includes incumbent Justine Elliot (Labor), who has represented the area since 2004. Running for the Greens is comedian, author and activist, Mandy Nolan. On the Nationals party ticket is Kingscliff resident Kimberly Hone, who runs a fitness coaching practice. Monica Shepherd is running on the Informed Medical Options Party (IMOP) ticket. Rob Marks is running on wealthy miner Clive Palmer’s UAP ticket. Byron resident, filmmaker and Independent candidate, David Warth, is also running for office.
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