Former military veterans and first responders aiming to enter politics with new Australian Values Party
Experienced military veterans, law enforcement officers and crisis workers have formed a new political party to “fix the crisis in leadership”.
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They have served in wars zones and counter-terrorist operations, been first responders at disasters and accidents and worked tirelessly on the medical frontline of the nation’s fight with Covid-19.
Now some of Australia’s most experienced veterans, law enforcers and crisis workers are taking on their greatest challenge – looking to enter federal politics to “fix the crisis in leadership”.
The independent Australian Values Party (AVP) is fielding candidates from all states for both the Senate and House in this year’s election, with the pitch of offering fresh leadership and lived experience as opposed to experience in politics.
Most quit their regular careers, having seen first-hand what they say were failures in leadership and honesty, notably during the disjointed federal-state response to Covid.
“Honestly I think Australia is lacking leadership and I know that sounds like a political line but I think that it’s true. We’ve lost sight of what politicians should be doing, showing true leadership and also strategic vision,” NSW Senate candidate Dave Gilbert said.
“Our policy is leadership before politics and I think that’s a natural attribute of any first responder so police, firefighters, paramedics … military, that base and lived experience is very strong for us.”
Mr Gilbert’s resume reads like a boy’s own adventure novel filled with secret electronic warfare missions aboard submarines in the South China Sea.
He’s a cryptologic linguist who worked in classified Australian-US special Cold War intelligence operations, a Gulf War veteran and Chief Petty Officer who later who went on to acquire a PhD in national security and electronic surveillance, as well as a Masters – and then to top it off entered law.
He said entering politics now was a natural progression in his varied career.
Chris Burson, running for the Senate in Victoria, spent nine years in the military and 11 years as a police officer.
He said for him Covid exposed a lack of political leadership in a crisis as well as transparency, honesty and accountability.
“When I was a negotiator in police you would speak to a whole breadth of people, high-end businessmen who lost multimillion-dollar deals (and) now they’re sitting on top of a building, or there’s the bloke who has never had a job, been a drug addict all his life and sick of being a burden to society,” he said.
“At the end of the day they are both sitting on the same ledge and we’ve still got the same hopes and dreams but circumstances have taken them to where they are.
“I’d like to think I can talk to anybody and get common ground and work out what their problem is and what their future can be. People want to vent but it’s about listening, hearing what people want and working out what they actually needed.”
When he created the AVP, former decorated Special Forces Major Heston Russell was swamped with 300 quality applicants looking to join.
“Finally, Australians can vote for a party of authentic people that will be continuously trained and developed to provide real leadership capabilities to our country,” said Mr Russell.
He is standing for the Senate in Queensland.
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