Infrastructure and national identity, Paul McKeown

A pilot has set his flight path to Canberra in a bid for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax as an independent candidate. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Independent Fairfax candidate Paul McKeown.

A pilot has set his flight path to Canberra in a bid for the seat of Fairfax, as an independent candidate in the upcoming federal election.

Paul McKeown, of Eumundi, has lived on the Sunshine Coast for 20 years.

His aviation career has seen him fly for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and light aircraft in the bush, airliners for Virgin and Bonza, for a Chinese domestic airline and run his own flying school in Gympie.

He is running in the federal election as he “wants to be a real representative to the House of Representatives”.

Mr McKeown said his experience as a pilot gave him perspective needed for nation building.

Independent Fairfax candidate Paul McKeown.

He promised not to be beholden to party politics.

“It seems if you vote red or you vote blue the same thing happens and the country keeps going in the same direction,” he said.

He said for true nation building, politicians needed to look beyond however long their term was and carry ambitious projects across.

He said cost of living was affecting his wallet, “my car is running on empty”, but he said a fix would be a longer-term process due to the instability of the world today.

He will campaign on stronger infrastructure that looks at the bigger, long-term picture.

“Immigration is a touchy subject and to sustain the rate of new arrivals per year, we really need to build the housing, public transport, roads and power grid to support it,” Mr McKeown said.

“If you want big immigration, you need big infrastructure.

“As well as boosting productivity, reducing pollution, and making the people’s lives easier, creating and supporting great infrastructure creates jobs, boosts our export potential, addresses the key concerns of the immigration issue, and it supports the future prosperity of our country.”

To tackle the rental affordability crisis on the Sunshine Coast, Mr McKeown said more multi-level developments needed consideration, tied with green spaces, rather than increasing suburban sprawl.

He said the Sunshine Coast needed to make better use of the infrastructure already built, especially the rail line through to Eumundi.

“In the aviation industry, there’s this calculation of capacity and frequency,” he said.

“The higher frequency, and therefore convenience, of a transport service, the more capacity you end up catering for.”

He wants to push for more trains running with duplicated track.

Mr McKeown wants Australia to gain its national confidence and identity back, not controlled by or following countries like America.

“Defence self-reliance for Australia is achievable, and I believe it should be a national priority,” he said.

“To get there, we must begin with a wholesale shift in our collective national mindset.”