Federal election 2022: Maranoa candidates answer key questions

Before you cast you vote at pre-polling or on election day, meet the candidates vying for your vote and find out what they stand for. See the full list here:

With early voting fast approaching, as is election day itself, its time for Maranoa voters to start making their minds up on who will win their vote.

Six new contenders have nominated to take on incumbent Nationals MP David Littleproud, with The Greens, United Australia Party, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, One Nation, Labor and Australian Federation Party all represented on the ballot.

To help you make your decision, we asked every candidate to introduce themselves and answer four key questions.

Candidates for Labor and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers did not respond to invitations to participate.

See where they stand on the issue below:

All responses to the questions below are verbatim and have not been edited.

Liberal National Party - David Littleproud

Nationals MP David Littleproud Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

I was born and raised in Chinchilla. Over the past 20 years, I’ve owned a small business and forged a career in agribusiness while living and working in Miles, Nanango, Charleville, St George, Stanthorpe and Warwick. This background provides me with an acute understanding of the important role small business and agriculture plays in creating jobs and promoting economic growth in Maranoa.

What do you believe is the single most important issue facing Maranoa and what will you do to tackle it?

There’s not a single issue – Maranoa represents 43% of Queensland. Key issues are:

Better and more equitable telecommunications to save lives, grow small business and support education. I’ve already secured 59 new mobile phone black spot towers across Maranoa. A Liberal National Government will invest $1.3 billion to increase regional mobile coverage for NBN Co to upgrade the entire fixed wireless network benefitting over 40,000 premises across Maranoa.

Supporting families and small business. Cuts to the fuel excise will save 22 cents per litre, helping 79,000 car owners. Pensioners will receive a $250 cost of living payment. This government has also made significant changes to the Child Care Subsidy to help parents enter the workforce.

Building on the hundreds of millions of dollars the Coalition has spent building and upgrading road networks will be critical.

Why do you think trust in politicians is so low, and how will you improve it?

I understand the frustration that people have with politicians and the government.

People just want to get on with it and have government out of their lives. And I've always believed actions speak louder than words.

So the best thing I can do to improve trust in politicians is to do what I have always done - follow through on what I say.

When I give my word, I stand by it and I deliver.

What will you do to help control the rising cost of living?

The Liberal National Government has an economic plan to help families with cost of living pressures when they need it most.

This includes cuts to the fuel excise, helping 79,000 car owners across Maranoa to save 22 cents per litre.

We’re helping more than 53,300 people in Maranoa to save $2,745 thanks to tax cuts.

Apprentices and trainees in priority occupations will receive $5,000 to help with the cost of training.

The Liberal National Government has cut out-of-pocket costs for families with multiple children in child care. Changes to the child care subsidy mean families with two or more children aged under five in care, will save on average $2,260 a year.

An extra 50,000 older Australians will have access to more affordable health care and medications to help ease cost of living pressures under changes to the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card. A re-elected Liberal National Government will increase the singles income test threshold from $57,761 to around $90,000 from July 1 this year, to give more senior Australians access to the concession card.

The couple’s threshold will also increase from $92,416 to $144,000.

What can be done to stop the slow death of rural towns across the region?

I disagree with the sentiment that rural towns across the region are dying. The Regional Movers Index has found that regional migration is at its highest level since 2018. Unemployment rates in regional Australia are 3.8 per cent compared to metropolitan centres at 4.1; tourism into regional Australia remains very strong; and record commodity prices and strong harvests have provided farmers an opportunity to reinvest in their own business as well as their communities.

The Liberal National Government is funding programs like AgCAREERSTART to encourage young people into agriculture, giving school leavers opportunities, experience and skills to enter the agriculture sector and provide long-term pathways to agricultural careers.

We’re investing in partnerships through the University of Queensland (UQ) to establish community-based demonstration, health and aged care training hubs in places like St George and Chinchilla.

The HELP for Rural Doctors and Nurse Practitioners initiative is giving eligible doctors and nurses the opportunity to reduce their outstanding HELP debt if they complete eligible work in rural, remote or very remote areas.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party - Malcolm Richardson

Did not respond.

Labor - Dave Kerrigan

Did not respond.

Unite Australia Party - Nathan McDonald

Goondiwindi born and bred, I grew up on my family’s beef and grain properties. I studied education. After working as a school teacher for several years, I served as a Principal for almost 10 years, most recently at Chinchilla Christian College which has grown significantly. The capacity and skills I have developed personally and professionally will serve me well if elected to represent the people of Maranoa.

What do you believe is the single most important issue facing Maranoa and what will you do to tackle it?

It is challenging to identify the most important issue currently being faced by people in Maranoa, as different communities have different issues that they are trying to deal with.

These include water security, available staff, roads, telecommunications, increases in the cost of electricity, loss of health and other services, etc. In the long term, I believe water security is crucial to Maranoa.

Water brings life and is needed by our industries, particularly our agricultural industry. Better water security is also needed for our towns, with places like Stanthorpe really experiencing the desperation of running out of water.

To ensure water security for the industries and people of Maranoa, we simply need to build more dams. In order to achieve this promptly, we need a way of getting rid of or cutting through all the red and green tape that slow these kinds of projects down.

We just have to get on and deliver more dams.

Why do you think trust in politicians is so low, and how will you improve it?

I believe that politicians have a challenging job representing people in their electorates who have a range of views and desires.

However, I do believe the all-too-common practice of politicians over promising and under delivering has caused many people to lose trust in them.

There can also be a degree of self-interest that exists for politicians, particularly those who have served for considerable time, which disappoints and upsets people since ultimately politicians are meant to serve the interests of those they represent.

If elected, I would continue to operate as I have as a leader of a school community by being open, honest, caring and a person of my word.

I am genuine and committed to doing the right thing, no matter the cost. Having a high level of trust with my school community has been of utmost importance to me, and if elected to represent Maranoa this will continue to be the case.

What will you do to help control the rising cost of living?

The rising cost of living is being caused by inflation, which has been increasing for around 18 months.

Government spending and accumulating a $1 trillion nation debt has been a significant contributor to this.

Simply, we need to pay down our national debt as quickly as possible. The UAP’s policy of introducing a 15% export licence on the sale of our iron ore to Asia would see this debt paid off in 20 years.

Under the current government’s approach, it would take approximately 200 years to pay off our national debt. If we can get the debt paid down and end reckless and wasteful government spending, this will go a long way to getting inflation under control.

Another measure that will assist with the rising cost of living is to cap home loan interest rates below 3%. This will help reduce mortgage stress and put downward pressure on increases in rent.

What can be done to stop the slow death of rural towns across the region?

As many of our regional communities have shrunk over time, they have lost important services and seen reduced opportunities for their young people to stay.

I would like to see growth and revitilsation in our regions, which can be achieved by introducing zonal taxation, a policy of the UAP, where individuals and businesses 200 kms or more from Brisbane can receive a 20% tax concession.

This would put more money in the pockets of people in Maranoa, encourage investment in our regions and allow our young people to remain in the towns they grew up in with the increased opportunities available to them.

It would also attract new people, such as health professionals, who can provide important services that have been lost.

The UAP has another policy of ensuring that 25% of the wealth generated by our regions is reinvested by government in them. This would obviously allow more funds to be invested in key infrastructure for our towns.

The Greens - Ellisa Parker

Ellisa Parker is a mother, house builder and social advocate. She studied at the Australian Agricultural College and has worked in conservation and land management, horticulture, farming, and forestry. She also volunteers in community outreach for various organisations, including the multi-faith Australian Religious Response to Climate Change working group.

What do you believe is the single most important issue facing Maranoa and what will you do to tackle it?

The cost of living, especially housing. Too many families are living in housing stress or without a roof over their heads.

Housing is only getting more expensive with rising interest rates. Piecemeal promises like first homebuyers grants actually only pump more money into the private market and drive up prices - we need long term solutions.

In 2021 I founded the Darling Downs Affordable Housing Association to advocate for more sustainable and affordable housing in our regions. The Greens have a fully-costed plan to end homelessness by building a million quality, affordable homes over the next 20 years, capping rent increases and banning no-grounds evictions.

Our one million homes initiative includes public housing, where rent is capped at 25% of income, and a shared ownership scheme where first home buyers can buy for just $300,000.

Why do you think trust in politicians is so low, and how will you improve it?

Politicians from both major parties take large donations from corporations, and when they win they put the interests of those corporations ahead of the people who elected them. I think the reason the major parties seem more similar than ever is because they are accepting donations from the same corporations.

The Greens want to ban corporations from donating to political parties, cap all political donations and require real-time donations disclosure. Along with our bill for a Federal ICAC (independent corruption commission), this would be a first step to cleaning up politics and restoring political integrity and public trust.

The Greens already refuse all corporate donations for our own campaigns. We operate on a shoestring budget, but it means we are totally focused on the ordinary people we meet and represent. Our Parliament would benefit from more representatives who are there to listen to the community, not corporations.

What will you do to help control the rising cost of living?

We need to increase wages and properly fund basic services. When the Greens were last in the balance of power, we got free dental care for kids. This time, we’d bring dental and mental health under Medicare for everyone, and scrap out-of-pocket fees for diagnostics like MRIs.

We’d also legislate to raise the minimum wage to 60% of the median wage, increase award wages in women-dominated industries including education, childcare, nursing, and cleaning, and raise all income support payments, including Jobseeker and pensions, above the poverty line to $88 a day.

We’d also invest in free education from childcare to uni and tafe, fully fund state schools so parents don’t have to pay extra for things like sport or music, and abolish HECS debt.

And we’d make power bills cheaper by creating a publicly owned renewable energy retailer to cut marketing costs and end price-gouging.

What can be done to stop the slow death of rural towns across the region?

To me, rural Queensland is heaven - it's such a unique ecosystem, the people are welcoming and there is a great community spirit. But we are often neglected by the government, and in my 18 years living here I’ve witnessed many towns boom and bust from coal and gas exploration.

If the major parties keep approving new coal, oil and gas, our communities will experience further economic losses. Food, insurance and health costs will go up, we’ll pay much higher energy bills, and over a million jobs in tourism and farming will be at risk.

The Greens will support fossil fuel workers and communities as we transition out of coal and gas and diversify our local economies. We’ll make billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of tax to fund free reskilling, grants to help new employers get off the ground, and guaranteed wage stability for 10 years.

One Nation - Mike Kelly

Mike is a 53 yo former business man who was born and raised in Barcaldine, completing his education at St Brendan’s College in Yeppoon. Mike has 20+ years of building successful businesses ranging from real estate to retail. Living in Warwick, Mike campaigns with three focus values: Transparency, Honesty, Accountability.

What do you believe is the single most important issue facing Maranoa and what will you do to tackle it?

It’s nearly impossible to limit the answer to a single issue as the Maranoa electorate is so incredibly huge and diverse in both community needs and varied economic/industry needs, however rural medical services would be the most consistent challenge faced across the entire electorate based on the direct feedback I’ve received speaking with residents and business owners in each and every town.

Being the only Maranoa candidate driving the entire electorate and physically talking with people face to face, I believe this is the most consistent concern that impacts all communities.

The One Nation Health policy recognizes the need to bolter the number of regional doctors, nurses and other critical health care professionals. To encourage better regional medical services, One Nation will introduce three-year contracts for newly qualified medical professionals and in return pay their HECS-HELP loans in full.

Why do you think trust in politicians is so low, and how will you improve it?

The answer is very simple. It’s because of the way the politicians conduct themselves. They have completely forgotten that their number one job is to represent the people in their electorate; not their party.

We are consistently seeing how the party line voting system is being corrupted by big business donors pushing a self-serving agenda as opposed to an agenda focused on serving the people.

Additionally, most modern politicians are now career politicians who use the public purse as a way to boost their own wealth with higher wages than average citizens, 15% superannuation, and access to community and business opportunities not available to most.

I intend to use technology to assist me engage with the entire community. A “Weekly Wednesday” zoom call will allow all citizens (not just corporate donors) to speak with me directly. We can discuss issues, proposed legislation and any other matters of concern.

What will you do to help control the rising cost of living?

We need to stop this “hand out” society the government has created. Every handout, grant, kickback, incentive, or assistance package creates a debt payable by the people.

Because Aussies are already considered one to most highly taxed citizens globally, the government can’t raise income taxes further. Therefore they increase indirect taxes on products and services to generate income.

This increases the cost of the goods and services needed to live. We need to get back to common sense fiscal management. As an example, donating $105 million to the Ukraine means Aussie families now have to cut back on their own available family budget to feed themselves while the government takes a larger slice of their family income (through higher prices) to pay for the foreign aide.

One Nation continues the fight to ensure the multinationals pay their fair share of tax so it relieves the tax burden on our citizens.

What can be done to stop the slow death of rural towns across the region?

Being the only candidate to drive the entire electorate for the campaign, I’ve seen it firsthand and it’s a significant problem that can’t be ignored.

Some challenges have always existed like the lure of the city lights for the young people. Other issues are created directly by poor government policy that doesn’t consider the whole of economy impact.

Carbon farming is destroying some of these towns. Melbourne investment firms are buying farms, sacking everyone and padlocking the gate while they collect a cheque.

No jobs, no residents to buy goods and services in the town, less people to justify investing in health services. The problem can be solved with water, industry, population and legislation reversal.

Most affected rural towns are heavily impacted by drought. The Bradfield scheme solves this for every future generation, giving confidence to increase population, housing, trades and jobs to kick start the regions again.

Australian Federation Party - Brett Tunbridge

I’m 56yo, married and have worked in many areas in life. I’ve lived in Pratten (Maranoa) for many years and know the issues that affect rural communities first hand. My kids grew up here and my friends are here. I love my little town and I love my life here.

What do you believe is the single most important issue facing Maranoa and what will you do to tackle it?

As was clearly demonstrated over the extended drought. Water and water security is the most obvious issue for Maranoa. Without it the country is unviable and desertification and economic ruin will follow, the two main points that Ausfeds will address are:

One. Infrastructure, why have there been no major storage projects undertaken for decades. Just look at our towns, running dry is not an option in a supposedly developed nation.

Two. ownership, who owns our water and why? Ausfeds see water as a basic human right and not to be owned by private or foreign interests. This will be abolished. We propose the full return of Australians water rights to all citizens and not subject to international agreements or treaties.

Why do you think trust in politicians is so low, and how will you improve it?

Easy one, people don’t trust politicians because they LIE! Political power is like heroin addiction and an incredible high. The down side comes with the craving for more and more and the end effect can be like trusting a junkie with your bank account.

No one on this earth can be a perfect politician, we will make mistakes, however the ability to publicly admit this seems to be gone these days.

As an Ausfeds member of parliament I have the right to vote against any Party policy in parliament in the interests of my electorate and must refer all legislation to a peoples legislative review group in my electorate.

Monthly open forum meetings in the electorate, this means that you have the power. Because we serve you! Do your current politicians do this? ask them!

What will you do to help control the rising cost of living?

Why does the cost of living keep rising? Go on Why? Is air free? Water? Sunlight? How is it that the “cost of living” keeps rising then? Our nation is in deep trouble.

The endless supply of credit and money that your government spends on things like “consultancies” or “administration” or collecting unfair “tax” it’s BS and economically unviable that they live off your back.

Taxes, debt and burgeoning bureaucracy, there‘s your problem. Legalized theft. Ausfeds will end the BS, enough debt slavery. We know this is not the easiest road.

But the only way is a full review and reform of the tax, finance, banking and superannuation industries. Our national interest must come first, or the only alternative is that our children will own nothing and they will not be happy.

What can be done to stop the slow death of rural towns across the region?

Each rural town has it’s own unique flavor whether it be the local hall, the pub, a cricket team or peaceful quiet. They’re all special in some way.

This is the true Aussie character at its finest and what I love the most, Ausfeds Recognise this diversity and celebrate it by involving every small (and large) community directly in their government at a federal, state and local level with local participation in monthly democracy training sessions with your federal member, via video link or in person depending on parliamentary sittings.

Small communities benefit from the direct input of expressing themselves under our constitution as is every Australian‘s right. These are our personal pledges that each Ausfed makes to their electorate. As you can see “change is here”