As we head into the final week of the federal election campaign, let’s take a closer look at the ten candidates seeking your vote for the House of Representatives (lower house).
The locally-elected MP is accountable to the federal Richmond electorate (Tweed, Byron and Ballina shires).
For the Senate vote, see The Echo’s guide here.
The following House of Reps candidates are numbered in the order you will see them on the ballot.
Greens: Mandy Nolan
Mandy Nolan is a comedian, author, artist and activist. For more visit mandy4richmond.com.
Her website says, ‘I’ve lived, worked and raised my kids in the Northern Rivers for three decades. I know what people are going through. If you’re struggling to afford rising mortgages and rents, grocery prices or even seeing a doctor, you’re not alone’.
‘We’ve had the same MP for 20 years and things are tougher than ever. If we keep voting for the same major parties we can’t expect anything to change’.
Labor MP: Justine Elliot
As a former Qld police officer, Mrs Elliot has been the local member since 2004.
For more info, visit www.justineelliot.com.au.
She says, ‘I’m proud to be a local, fighting to get a fair share for our community from Canberra. As your local MP, I’ve delivered more than $2 billion for local roads, schools, services and community groups’.
‘I’m also proud to be your strong voice in the Albanese Labor government, delivering cost-of-living relief, action on climate change, affordable housing, and so much more’.
Independent: Kevin Loughrey
Retired military veteran and business man, Kevin Loughrey, previously ran for the 2023 NSW election for the seat of Ballina (Byron and Tweed shires).
He gained 3,710 votes, or 7.8 per cent of the vote, which was the fourth-highest, after Greens, Labor and the Nationals.
While Loughrey is standing as an independent, he also says he is co-founder of Australians for Better Government (which is a political movement, not a registered party). According to www.australiansforbetter.com, ‘Kevin was a senior member of the National Party, but he has since joined the Libertarian Party’. The movement is headed by former Liberal and former NSW State Executive of One Nation, Steven Tripp.
Loughrey’s website, www.kevinloughrey.com.au, contains lengthy essays around the government’s mishandling of Covid and his arguments against the evidence around anthropogenic climate change.
One Nation: Ian Mye
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation candidate is Bundjalung Indigenous man, Ian Mye. One Nation says Ian was born in Murwillumbah, grew up in Kingscliff and is a truck driver. They say, ‘He is passionate about our region becoming a centre for excellence in art, culture and sport as well as fostering community-based caring for country from an Indigenous point of view’.
According to www.onenation.org.au, their priorities are a Royal Commission into the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, pursuing ‘a tax regime that ensures multi-national businesses pay their fair share of tax, reducing immigration, and reforming family law and child support’.
Legalise Cannabis: Vivian McMahon
As a one issue party, Legalise Cannabis say, ‘Cannabis should be treated in a similar way to alcohol and tobacco’, and have a three stage plan to make it legal. Its candidate, Vivian McMahon, ‘worked at the HEMP Embassy in Nimbin for 18 years promoting cannabis law reform. Has also been an HIV/AIDS activist since 1985, and is a member of many HIV support groups’.
According to www.legalisecannabis.org.au, they advocate to ‘protect and uphold civil liberties, privacy, human rights, personal freedoms, anti-discrimination/tolerance and compassion’
Trumpet of Patriots: Phillip Peterkin
If you like the policies of Donald J Trump, and would like similar policies in Australia, then Trumpet of Patriots is for you.
It’s led and funded by mining billionaire Clive Palmer, who threw $123 million at the last election under the now defunct United Australia Party.
Palmer’s local candidate is Phillip Peterkin. His bio states: ‘Growing up in the beautiful regions of Tyalgum and Uki, I have always felt deeply connected to our community.
‘My decision [to run] stems from a commitment to moving beyond the traditional Lib-Lab uni-party politics. I am convinced that we can achieve so much more, both economically and environmentally’.
For more visit www.trumpetofpatriots.org.
Nationals: Kimberly Hone
This is the second tilt at the federal seat for Kimberly Hone. As a Tweed councillor, she describes herself as ‘a mother of three young daughters, a small business owner, and a committed volunteer’.
‘My life has been about service – whether volunteering with the SES, supporting remote communities, or helping children with special needs through my work with the Department of Child Safety and the NDIS. Every role I’ve taken and every cause I’ve supported has been driven by my commitment to serving the community’.
The Nationals are campaigning on policies around low inflation (cutting wasteful spending), cheaper energy (more Australian gas, nuclear), affordable homes (investing in infrastructure, limiting migration, helping first home buyers), safer communities (tougher knife laws and higher bail in laws and deporting non-citizens who commit crimes), and better access to healthcare (Medicare guarantee, improved services across health sector).
For more info visit www.nationals.org.au.
Libertarian: Ian Willis
The Libertarian Party is headed by Craig Kelly, a former Liberal Party MP and former leader of Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party (UAP).
The party’s candidate is Ian Willis, and according to his bio, Willis was born outside Longreach in Western Qld.
‘After several years working underground in WA mines, Ian travelled the world settling in the UK where he worked as a construction manager. As the President of the Queensland Strata Institute, Ian transformed it into an open, inclusive organisation, focused on ethics, and introduced a standard contract which clearly displayed all previously secret commissions’.
Ian is also a columnist with Rupert Murdoch’s Gold Coast Bulletin, and ‘has advised the government on several occasions with the redrafting of strata legislation’.
After moving to Tweed, Willis is said to have transformed his home of 30 acres ‘from a blank canvas into a verdant jungle’.
‘In 2020, he was prohibited from crossing the Qld border to attend farmers’ markets. Our freedoms were curtailed by our government. Thus, another freedom fighter was born’.
For more: www.lpnsw.org.au
Independent: James McKenzie
There is no online information available on James McKenzie’s latest election campaign. He ran for the Tweed Council elections in 2024 and the NSW state election in 2023.
He told The Echo at the time, ‘I am running for the fourth time to expose that Wollumbin, Arakwal and Bundjalung National Parks are fake; that Bundjalung is a white man’s fabrication, [and in] Yugambeh in QLD, there are two fake Nations in the one language group’.
‘Aboriginal Affairs and Native title has utterly failed and the country is so stupid most are not aware.
‘Wollumbin was taken as the name of my family’s peak and applied as a fake dual name to Mt Warning (Wulambiny Momoli)’.
Gerard Rennick People First: Richard Curtin
Former Qld Liberal-National (LNP) senator Gerard Rennick, quit the party in 2024 after ‘it become apparent that the Liberal National Party was more interested in protecting the interests of the establishment than the people’.
Rennick now leads People First, and espouses libertarian policies, such as lower income tax, reduced immigration, streamlining the bureaucracy and reinstating the (Commonwealth) public bank and insurance office, as well establishing an infrastructure bank.
His party supports freedom of speech and supports ‘coal, nuclear, gas and hydro’.
And do they like climate science? No – they say if elected, ‘People First will remove all funding and references to climate change’.
People First candidate is Bogangar-based Richard Curtin, who was ‘born and raised in the Irish republic into a working class family’, according to his bio.
He says he has played and coached rugby union at first grade, and ‘built a thriving and successful sub-contract business’.
More information at www.peoplefirstparty.au.
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