Nathan Buckley to contest Wide Bay for Pauline Hanson One Nation party at federal election

A controversial anti-vax lawyer from New South Wales who is suspended from practicing will run against Llew O’Brien for the federal seat of Wide Bay in this year’s election.

Nathan Andrew Buckley wants to revive Wide Bay’s economy, fight for urgent infrastructure and road upgrades and focus on housing affordability and health and education services.

A controversial anti-vax lawyer from New South Wales who is suspended from practicing will run against Llew O’Brien for the federal seat of Wide Bay in this year’s election.

Nathan Andrew Buckley wants to revive Wide Bay’s economy, fight for urgent infrastructure and road upgrades and focus on housing affordability and health and education services.

One National announced his candidacy on on Monday, January 24, to contest the Federal seat of Wide Bay at the next federal election which is expected to take place in May 2022.

But Mr Buckley, previously of G & B Lawyers, who was last November suspended from practicing law until June 2022, is best known for his broad and public stance against Covid-19 directives.

He has headed a slew of crowd-funding campaigns to fund challenges against mandatory quarantine for Queenslanders, Victorian border restrictions, and guidelines around visiting aged-care facilities.

Early in the pandemic Mr Buckley’s message of telling Victorians not to wear a mask went viral, while his latest campaign aims to raise $1 million to fight his suspension in judicial review proceedings against the NSW Law Society.

“They want to silence me,” his campaign page states. The campaign has raised $23, 900 since it was created in October 2021.

“They don‘t want me to challenge the unlawful public health orders and directions. They don’t want me acting for individuals who have lost their livelihoods and their careers.”

Mr Buckley stated in December 2021 that he had filed a summons against the NSW Law Society.

According to The Australian newspaper, he was previously reprimanded by the Legal Services Commissioner in January 2020, for unsatisfactory professional conduct for acting unethically by sending correspondence that was “threatening, abusive and/or discourteous”.

Senator Pauline Hanson, Leader of the Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.

Mr Buckley said he was inspired by Pauline Hanson’s stand against “vaccine coercion” to stand for One Nation in Wide Bay and had spent the past two years representing people who had been “subjected to Covid-19 vaccine coercion and discrimination”.

“I’m an advocate for freedom of choice, one of the most important principles of Australian democracy,” he said.

“Australians should be free to make their own choices about their health and the medical procedures they undergo.

“Coercion is not consent. People shouldn’t be forced to choose between their jobs and the jabs, but in my work I’ve encountered thousands of Australians who’ve been fired from their jobs or been excluded from public life.

He said businesses in Wide Bay needed to operate without fear of being shut down.

“We need a great deal more flexibility around testing and isolation for critical supply chain workers. Our tourism industry must be allowed to recover. Our children need to be able to go back to school and face-to-face learning.”

The Bruce Highway was recently damaged in the floods

He said other issues that needed attention in the Wide Bay were flood protection for the Bruce Highway and upgrades to accommodate growing traffic.

“We’ll also need to plan and build more schools, hospitals and recreation facilities, and we need to ensure funding for aged care is sustainable in the long term,” he said.

“Housing affordability is an urgent national issue, and its impacts can be felt keenly in regional areas like Wide Bay.

“Queensland regions are desperate for skilled workers but it’s not easy to get them when you have nowhere affordable for them to live. We need to take some heat out of the market – banning foreign ownership of residential property would be a good start.

“We need businesses and borders to open without restrictions. We need an end to vaccine mandates. We need an end to QR codes, restrictions and lockdowns. We need our lives back. We need our country back.

“One Nation will always fight to protect the rights and freedoms of Australians, and so will I.”

The NSW Law Society was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.

Mr Buckley is not associated with Nathan Buckley of Optic Lawyers.