Find out who in the running for seat of Southern Downs at 2024 state election
The safe seat of the Southern Downs could be a hotly-contested race as left-wing and conservative party candidates make their bid ahead of the October state election. Meet your candidates here.
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For several years the LNP has sat comfortably in the Southern Downs seat of Queensland parliament.
As the October election rolls around the corner, candidates have started to reveal their intentions to challenge James Lister’s safe LNP seat.
A rail engineer who grew up in Allora is representing the Greens, while a former NSW police officer is representing Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
Meet the first of the Southern Downs’ state candidates vying for a seat in parliament below.
LIZ SUDUK | ONE NATION
A former NSW police officer, now Southern Downs beef farmer, Liz Suduk is campaigning for major changes ahead of the October election.
The One Nation candidate said housing, cost of living, water security and advocating for farmers were among her top priorities should she win the region’s seat in parliament.
“More resources for rural communities particularly in health are desperately needed, we’ve got a major shortage of GP’s in the region,” she said.
“There needs to be more meaningful incentives to bring doctors out to rural areas, we really need to explore all of our options.
“There’s also the issue of cost of living and housing for Stanthorpe particularly, I spoke with a real estate agent recently who told me they had 15 applications in half an hour on a house listed for $450 a week.”
Mrs Suduk said the cost of living was a high priority for One Nation who will look to fast track the building and approvals of new homes, reduce electricity prices and levies, and reduce taxes on fuel.
Having lived in the region for two decades Mrs Suduk said she’s never before seen such an outcry for relief.
“I was at the Warwick Community Van’s fifth anniversary event and I couldn’t believe just how many people in need there were, I haven’t seen anything like it in 20 years,” she said.
“There’s a feeling within the Southern Downs community that residents haven’t been heard.”
As a former NSW police officer who has worked in some very rough areas, Mrs Suduk’s position on youth crime is one with experience.
Mrs Suduk said the Miles government’s decision to appoint a cross-border commissioner in Goondiwindi should be a long-term solution.
“In the long term it’s not a bad option as he needs (to build) momentum and resources, and while the police out there are doing an amazing job, they don’t currently have the resources to do patrols,” she said.
“I think the short term solution would be to have police dogs and a handler patrolling the streets, because I had worked in very rough areas with the same problem and found the presence of a dog and handler really deters a lot of offenders.”
Mrs Suduk said there would need to be a resource allocation from the NSW government to enable this support in the border community of Boggabilla.
DAVID NEWPORT | THE GREENS
Having grown up in Allora on his family’s farm, David Newport said he understands the perils of living in a rural community where government funding was often few and far between.
Although his career as a rail engineer saw him move away from the region for work, Mr Newport said he still visits the Spring Creek property as often as he can.
“On the farm, I’m reminded of how much our climate has already changed. The climate crisis is making our seasons more erratic, with longer droughts punctuated by more intense wets,” he said.
“At work, I’ll watch kilometres-long coal trains snake along, day and night, and it leaves me with a faint sense of watching the end of my family’s livelihood roll by.
“To me, these are the biggest problems facing the Downs, our families and friends are forced to move away to find work or affordable housing while the climate crisis is a looming threat to our whole way of life.”
Mr Newport said if he elected to represent the Southern Downs in October he would fight to create the jobs and opportunities needed for the region’s communities and the environment.
“We all know how governments forget about our rural communities, Allora used to have four train services a day (and) now we have none, the bridge into town hasn’t been fixed since the embankment was washed away in the 2011 floods,” he said.
JAMES LISTER | LNP
Holding the Southern Downs seat in Queensland parliament for almost a decade, member of the Opposition James Lister is vying to keep the LNP in power in the region.
Mr Lister has started campaigning his way around the region with the October election knocking on the door.
Mr Lister told Warwick Daily News previously that he stands by the LNP’s proposed ‘Safer Children, Safer Communities’ plan.
Mr Lister said there’s three major failures by the Labor government in providing a solution to the youth crime crisis.
“Labor changed the law a decade ago to make it much harder to lock up and impose consequences on youth offenders who terrorise the community,” Mr Lister said.
“They failed to remove children from abusive and neglectful parents, and keeps taking kids who are thriving in good loving foster homes and sending them back to dysfunctional, abusive and drug-addled parents.
“They have also neglected to force kids in state residential care to go to school, or to stay at home at night.”
Mr Lister said Labor’s failures and political correctness in those three areas has created a generation of juvenile offenders, with some now adults who have no education, discipline or fear of the law.
Warwick Daily News has contacted Mr Lister for further comment on his 2024 re-election campaign.
MELINDA KELLER | FAMILY FIRST
The Family First Queensland party has announced Melinda Keller as their candidate for the Southern Downs in the upcoming October state election.
According to her candidate profile Ms Keller believes strong families, freedom for faith, and protecting the most vulnerable are critical for the future of the Southern Downs community and state of Queensland.
Warwick Daily News has contacted Ms Keller for further comment on her election campaign.
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