Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal announced as One Nation candidate for Mirani

Cup-winning camel jockey, youth worker and boxing champ, Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal is not the One Nation candidate you would expect.

Senator Pauline Hanson and Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal. Picture: Contributed

Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal is not the One Nation candidate you would expect.

The number one female fighter in Fred Brophy’s famous boxing troupe, where she picked up the nickname The Beaver, has won more than 250 fights and several titles.

She will now step in the ring as the candidate for Mirani, having unsuccessfully run for the seat of Cook at the previous state election.

The 38-year-old, who was born in inner South Brisbane in 1985, began her working life at 15 years old as a jillaroo on a cattle station near Charters Towers.

Boxing champion and cup-winning camel jockey Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal during her campaign for the seat of Cook as the One Nation candidate. She is now running as the One Nation candidate for Mirani at the 2024 state election.

Ms Neal, who identifies as a gay woman, has spent the past three years in Senator Pauline Hanson’s office as her office manager and personal assistant.

While Ms Neal works for Ms Hanson in Brisbane, she says her home is a block just outside Sarina in the Mirani electorate.

However, she said she has lived in Mirani for just three of the past 10 years because of work commitments.

“With my job I travel a lot,” she said.

“Regional Queensland is home.

“This is where I come back to on weekends.”

One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts and boxing champion and cup-winning camel jockey Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal during her campaign for the seat of Cook as the One Nation candidate. She is now running as the One Nation candidate for Mirani at the 2024 state election.

The boxing champion and cup-winning camel jockey is indeed no stranger to the region.

After her stint as a jillaroo near Charters Towers, she started a career in her late teens in personal protection and security at mining camps in Central Queensland, including Nebo.

In addition to boxing and racing camels, she’s also worked with at-risk Indigenous youth in remote areas as part of intervention and redirection programs.

While this saw her live in far northern Indigenous communities, she said her youth work also saw her live in Port Curtis for a couple of years.

Youth crime is one of her priorities if elected.

“I have spent a lot of time working in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities working with disengaged youth,” she said.

“A strong passion of mine is our future and our future is very much the youth.

Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal during her campaign for the seat of Cook as the One Nation candidate. She is now running as the One Nation candidate for Mirani at the 2024 state election.

“That’s why youth crime and getting it right is important.

“It is not just shutting them out, it is understanding them.”

She was also opposed to the Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro Project and said that all Queenslanders should have access to basic medical needs.

“Our medical needs are third world and we live in a first-world country,” she said.

“I also have a strong passion for the recreational and commercial fishing industry and I think our fishermen are getting screwed over.

“I think the fishermen need some support too.”

She said she was “100 per cent against” government-mandated Covid vaccinations.

“The number of people that lost their jobs because they had to get it or they lost their jobs, that’s totally uncalled for and unfair,” she said.

“Luckily for me, the Senator’s office didn’t make us get the jab.

“The reason I didn’t get it was because I nearly died from a flu shot.

Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal during her campaign for the seat of Cook as the One Nation candidate. She is now running as the One Nation candidate for Mirani at the 2024 state election.

“I was more scared to get it than anything.

“I am not against people getting it if that’s what they choose to do.”

When Ms Neal unsuccessfully ran for the electorate of Cook in the 2020 state election, she came in fourth with 6 per cent of the votes, losing to Labor MP Cynthia Lui.

She said she was approached about two weeks ago to be the One Nation candidate for Mirani, after the news broke that the political party would not be endorsing Mirani MP Stephen Andrew at the Queensland election.

Ms Neal said she was not afraid that if elected she would be disendorsed by the One Nation Party.

“I would be afraid if I didn’t believe in what One Nation stands for but I have got no doubt that if I am doing my job and what’s required of me then I will not get disendorsed,” she said.

Mirani MP Stephen Andrew. Picture: Melanie Whiting

Ms Neal said the One Nation Party had followed and supported her work in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

“They had followed what I did in those communities for a long time and were the only political party that supported and backed what I did,” she said.

“I travelled with Pauline up The Cape and she actually slept in a rooftop camper in the communities.

“She came to see what I did.

“Her as a human being is what drew me to the party.”

Ms Neal said the other thing she liked about One Nation was that she was not a puppet.

“I can have my own opinion,” she said.

Boxing champion and cup-winning camel jockey Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal during her campaign for the seat of Cook as the One Nation candidate. She is now running as the One Nation candidate for Mirani at the 2024 state election.

“I didn’t think I would ever be in politics but it is honestly humbling and rewarding to help people daily.

“That is what I enjoy most about my role in the Senator’s office.

“If elected, that would be a highlight to be able to do it full time.

“I am a true Aussie.

“It puts a smile on my face to know I have been able to help another person.”

Ms Hanson presented Ms Neal with a Bohemian Crystal vase for her 200th tent boxing fight at the Birdsville Races in 2018.

Boxing champion and cup-winning camel jockey Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal during her campaign for the seat of Cook as the One Nation candidate. She is now running as the One Nation candidate for Mirani at the 2024 state election.

Ms Neal said she was on the road in Mirani, door knocking with her 13-year-old dog Piglet.

“We have met some locals,” she said.

“I will be going to every place in this electorate and I will be advertising where I will be and I am happy for people to come and speak to me.

“We have supporters all through the region and I will be personally speaking to as many as I can.

“To the people who don’t know me, get to know me and know that I am a fighter and I will be fighting for the people.”

Boxing champion and cup-winning camel jockey Brettlyn ‘Beaver’ Neal during her campaign for the seat of Cook as the One Nation candidate. She is now running as the One Nation candidate for Mirani at the 2024 state election.

She said this was one fight where she wouldn’t be pulling any punches.

“I know residents of Central Queensland need help to deal with the rising cost of living and the housing and rental crisis, and someone who will ensure the Mirani office is open every day of the week to help with constituent issues,” Ms Neal said.

“The people of Mirani deserve a strong voice representing them in the halls of the Brisbane parliament. With their support, I’ll always fight hard for the people of this community.

“Most of all, I’ll fight hard for the residents of Mirani who stretch across a vast area from Bajool to Mount Morgan, and right up to Mirani and everywhere in between. This is a big seat that most politicians in Brisbane just don’t understand.”

The 2024 state election will be held on October 26, where Ms Neal will go up against Liberal National Party candidate Glen Kelly.

The Australian Labor Party have yet to announce a candidate for the seat of Mirani.