Your vote counts: Carla Svendsen, GAP candidate for Flynn in the 2022 Federal election

Here’s what Great Australia Party candidate for Flynn, Carla Svendsen thinks about key issues such as housing affordability, regional services, the “debt bubble” and vaccine mandates.

Suspending overseas aid to address the national debt bubble and ending vaccine mandates are among a swath of policies advocated by the GAP candidate for Flynn, as she says homelessness is a major national issue especially for older women.

With previous experience in hospitality, administration and education, what Carla Svendsen says she lacks in ‘degrees’ and ‘diplomas’ she makes up for with something the current government lacks: common sense.

Here’s how Carla responded to the questions we put to all seven candidates vying for your vote in Flynn.

GAP candidate for Flynn, Carla Svendsen. Picture: Supplied

What are the three issues that you believe matter most to voters in the Flynn electorate?

There are so many issues in Flynn that people are concerned about. How can we condense these issues when they are all connected.

Gladstone’s population is continually growing, yet the services are now more limited than five years ago.

Community Services i.e. hospitals, doctors, specialists, social workers, foster homes and carers are all one major issue.

Roads/infrastructure/5g towers are another. Homelessness is rising as there is no housing or rental affordability.

People are concerned with their job security with the vaccines that are still being mandated through some employers, when we now know that these mandates are basically destroying our health system through people choosing not to be vaccinated.

How will you address and seek to resolve the increased pressure of cost of living?

No government is prepared to address the elephant in the room, which is the debt bubble. They merely print more money and hand the responsibility over to the next Government.

How long can this continue until such time as the economy collapses?

Australians will see a decline in living standards until this issue is resolved.

The issue for the majority of Australians is that wages are not increasing in line with inflation and this puts enormous stress of everyday Australians.

Government debt is nearing $1.5T and they just keep borrowing.

And Government’s solution is to sell off our national assets, which again we witness in Victoria with the partial sale of VicRoads.

Foreign aid is needed by Australians right now. A one-off stimulus payment will not fix the issue, it merely is a band aid.

GAP would suspend overseas aid and deal with the issues in our country first and seek to increase pensions accordingly as our elderly are merely existing and not living.

We also need to increase funding to those on welfare or we will see more homelessness, which is a direct contributor to question three (homelessness).

GAP would conduct a deep forensic analysis/filtration of our tax system and consolidated revenue. For example, foreign aid and grants are two options and no doubt there are more.

This money needs to be channelled into those who need it most immediately.

GAP would also review public assets that have been sold off such as gas and electricity and seek to increase tax on these companies who might benefit from higher inflation/commodity prices.

Ultimately, we need a government who will address the debt bubble, and history suggests neither Labor or Liberal is prepared to do this.

How will you make house prices and rent more affordable, increase public housing and reduce the number of homeless residents?

Subject to my comments in question two, we need to build more homes and we need to review the tax system in the cost of building homes.

I have spoken with several builders and a lot of their time and money is spent in bureaucracy and taxes. This is where instant tax relief is required to enable builders to build more affordable homes.

These homes would meet certain sustainable energy standards to reduce the cost of heating and cooling, and therefore put more money back into taxpayers’ pockets to help with the cost of living.

Greater incentives are required to build communities in regional areas to manage such construction programs.

The cities are built up with apartments and we need more investment in regional and rural communities.

This would align with public services being relocated from cities to regional towns as well.

Homelessness is a serious issue in Australia and one that is only growing.

Women over 55 years of age is the fastest growing demographic of homelessness in Australia and this must end.

Greater investment in crisis accommodation is required urgently as it is not just adults that are suffering in this space.

Sadly, it is children and in a resource-rich country like ours it is inexcusable. A joint investment program with business and Government could deliver these services into our community.

However, it cannot be through printing or borrowing more money. It must come through from a forensic analysis of treasury.

With the focus of Flynn often being on Gladstone, what are big projects and issues you will address in more remote parts of the electorate?

All of the issues as above, plus Health services, including mental health and first aid training are a necessity, as are the improvements of mobile phone coverage.

Do you support the Mt Morgan water pipeline project and do you support the rehabilitation of the Mt Morgan Mine by Heritage Minerals?

Yes. As this is an ‘already promised’ project, I would be pushing for them (Federal Labor) to honour their commitment.

Everyone is entitled to water, and Mount Morgan’s population has increased significantly with the rising cost of housing and rental affordability in the past couple of years. I personally cannot believe that this project hasn’t commenced already.

Do you support Gladstone being reinstated as a “Distribution Priority Area” for doctors and what other commitments will you make to health services in Flynn?

Of course. The whole electorate of Flynn needs more GPs and permanent health services.

For example, we only have two permanent doctors in Agnes Water so this leads to a three week waiting period. This is totally unacceptable, but, there is nothing that the public have been able to do.

I would say that not only Gladstone be a ‘Distribution Priority Area’ for doctors, but the outlying towns as well. I would be lobbying for medical and nursing students to be learning on the job, with permanent placements and accommodation for these students in our rural areas.

Do you support net zero emissions and do you endorse the shift to hydrogen and other renewable industries emerging in Gladstone?

GAP does not support zero emissions. However, we support a detailed transition plan to clean energy sources to ensure the “lights stay on”. Australia has some of the cleanest coal in the world, and our carbon impact is minuscule compared to other countries.

Do you support traditional industries in Flynn such as coal and gas?

As above. Until such time as there is a suitable transition plan, then we rely on our natural resources for energy.

While hospitals are a state issue, residents are telling us it is unacceptable that Gladstone Hospital is a level three facility, without an ICU unit, will you lobby for upgrades to the Gladstone Hospital?

As of October last year, the Mater Hospital has ceased all private hospital services in Gladstone.

This would have placed a much higher demand on the Gladstone Public Hospital, but in a statement from our Premier, “The Palaszczuk Government will purchase the Gladstone Mater Hospital in a bid to further expand public health services to the Central Queensland region”.

Health Minister Steven Miles said the purchase would mean a new era of health care for the people of Gladstone.

“The Palaszczuk government invests in health care, and this is an exciting opportunity to expand public healthcare in Gladstone,” he said.

More broken promises are an issue that needs to be addressed. They haven’t improved anything; they have actually made the situation worse.

The current sitting members should have made ‘all’ health services a high priority in Flynn.

Upgrades and more smaller hospitals are definitely something that I would be fighting for in my electorate.

Has Scott Morrison handled this term as Prime Minister well and do you think Anthony Albanese would be a better Prime Minister going forward?

He has had a very difficult situation with Covid, BUT, I do believe that he could have handled the situation differently.

By him allowing state premiers to enforce border controls, vaccine passports and mandates on our already struggling health system, he caused major damage and trauma in many people’s lives.

So many people have suffered from his ineffectiveness in his role as the leader of this country.

As for Anthony Albanese, I really don’t think that he is the man for the job either.

Should people in Flynn put independents and minor parties above the major parties, and why?

The people of Flynn should vote according to their research.

Part of that research could include researching laws that have been supported by sitting politicians. This would help people understand what their local representatives stands for.

Minor parties have some great policies, and these should be leveraged when they are in the parliament to effect the right change.

However, the current system is designed to support the two-party preferred system only, and not minor parties.

What makes Flynn different to other electorates?

The Electorate of Flynn is huge! It’s just over 133,000 sq km. With over 155,000 residents (census data 2020) and with locals scattered from the outback to the reef, Flynn is an electorate of differences.

We have the fishing and shipping industries, along with a large agricultural conglomerate, whether it’s strawberries, cane sugar, fruits and vegetables or cotton and a large mixture of grain farmers; cattle, coal, gas and tourism, plus international tourists whether cruise ships or backpackers, bc (before Covid).

These are all the backbones of our financial stability within Flynn.

All of the collected community, our mega mining companies, and primary producers down to the small business owners need to have faith in our government, but right now I personally feel that this would be at the very lowest level it has been for a long time, but honestly, can you blame them?

It’s time for change.