Federal election 2022: Meet the candidates for Dawson

Nationals Dawson contender Andrew Willcox’s job to keep the seat of Dawson in the government’s hands just got a little easier. Read why.

Nationals Dawson contender Andrew Willcox has lucked out in the Dawson ballot draw, nabbing first position.

First spot means he will pick up the ‘donkey vote’ on election day, or voters who simply number the boxes top to bottom rather than selecting a particular candidate for their first preference.

The blessed spot came about through a blind draw Australian Electoral Commission officials conducted at 145 Sydney Street in Mackay.

The order in which Dawson’s candidates will appear on the ballot is as follows:

1. Andrew Willcox (Coalition)

2. Julie Hall (One Nation)

3. Shane Hamilton (Labor)

4. James Jackson (Great Australian Party)

5. Christian Young (United Australia Party)

6. Ciaron Paterson (Katter’s Australian Party)

7. Paula Creen (Greens)

Mr Willcox said he was “excited” to be in first position.

“It’s good, I hope it’s a good omen,” he said.

“I’m just going to go out now and press the flesh and talk to as many people as I can.”

Mr Willcox’s new advantage adds to his frontrunner position.

In 2019, Dawson swung heavily in favour of the Coalition which holds the seat with a margin of 14.6 per cent.

Labor candidate Shane Hamilton said he was still in contention despite Mr Willcox’s latest stroke of good fortune.

“It makes us hit the ground harder and makes us work harder,” he said.

“It makes us really try and engage with the public more so that they know where their number 1 has to go and the importance of where they are going to put their number one.

“People are sick of ScoMo and they want a change and they are just not naturally going to go with their number one to the LNP candidate.”

Meet the candidates

Firebrand Dawson MP George Christensen has resigned from the LNP after 12 years representing the Mackay region under its banner.

Mr Christensen has since realigned to run on One Nation’s Queensland Senate ticket.

In his absence, a crowd of candidates has jumped in to contest the sprawling Dawson seat.

More candidates will likely join the race in the coming days.

Though the seat shifted heavily towards the LNP in 2019, Dawson was once considered marginal and no-one can claim the electorate with absolute certainty.

Your vote is powerful.

We will explore policies in detail over the coming weeks but to begin with, we’ve compiled a short introduction to each of the candidates and the beliefs and life-values that have pushed them into the political arena.

Andrew Willcox – Liberal National Party

Whitsunday Mayor Andrew Willcox won the LNP preselection battle to replace Mr Christensen as the Nationals’ candidate.

The third-generation farmer has held his mayoral position since 2016 and lives with his wife Raylene in Bowen.

They have three children, Jack, Shannon and Tom.

“I believe in the policies of the Nationals,” he said.

“I believe that everyone should be given an opportunity in this country, the opportunity to make a dollar and then more importantly, to not be taxed out of existence and save a dollar.

Dawson LNP candidate Andrew Willcox (left) and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce by the Pioneer River. Picture: Contributed

“I believe in reward for effort.

“That’s a mantra I’ve always lived by.”

Mr Willcox lists Prime Minister John Howard as a guiding light.

“I always thought that when we had Prime Minister Howard there we had a safe set of hands,” he said.

“He looked after our economy, I always felt safe.

“And if I ever end up in a leadership role, that’s really what I want to do, is to make sure that everybody feels safe and make sure that all my people are looked after.”

Mr Willcox said he could be trusted with power because he had always been a “man of the people.”

“I’ve never lost sight of who I’m actually working for,” he said.

“I’m prepared to represent everyone, from the super-rich to the working man to the homeless bloke that actually needs a bit of a hand.”

When asked what he loved most about Dawson, he mentioned the electorate’s wide-ranging industries, from tourism and agriculture to mining.

“It’s where I live and I love the people,” he said.

Shane Hamilton – Labor

Mr Hamilton was raised in a Labor family and says the party embodies his own value system.

“We want to look after everyone in society,” he said.

“We were a party that invented Medicare, superannuation, and all these things were designed to help people that may be struggling, or just in general as a society to advance it.

“That aligns with my core values of being a family man, genuinely caring about people and even in my role as a leader now in my current work, I’m a project manager, and I still hold that value where people are key.

“And everyone, right through, whether you’re the cleaner or the (trade’s assistant) or the project manager, you’re still people and we’ve all got a certain job to do and we all add value to society.”

His father was a truck driver and his mother a stay-at-home Mum.

He was raised in relatively humble circumstances but training as a boilermaker and then getting a job in the mines opened up new avenues of opportunity.

He now works for G and S Engineering doing mining maintenance work across the Bowen Basin.

“We fix the things that dig the dirt,” he said.

“The mining industry has really given me a wonderful career and opportunity and I really support mines and that industry because of the opportunity it has given me and my family to have such a great life here in Mackay.”

Mr Hamilton said Prime Minister Bob Hawke was the Labor figure he most admired.

“He was a good Aussie larrikin at heart and that’s essentially who I am,” he said.

“Between him and Paul Keating they introduced a lot of policy that has really shaped Australia for the future.”

Mr Hamilton has three children and he coaches the Under 6s Magpies football team.

Mr Hamilton said his philosophy for leadership was that in order to lead or have power, you “need people to work with you”.

“And if you’ve got no-one that wants to work with you or no one who wants to be with you working alongside you, that’s not power that’s just you by yourself trying to do something,” he said.

“People elect you to help them, it’s not them electing you to give you power.”

Paula Creen – The Greens

Greens candidate Paula Creen is a building designer and draftsman.

She was born and raised in Mackay and has lived in Brisbane, Cairns and London.

Ms Creen has been active in community volunteering, including as a crew member in marine rescue for 12 years and the SES since 2018.

She is the current Mackay 8-Ball president and helps with the local community gardens and Rotary Christmas Fair.

She has been involved in the Mackay Conservation Group and Stop Adani protests against the Adani Carmichael Mine since 2017.

“We’ve got to stop burning coal for the environment,” she said.

Ms Creen participated in illegal direct action protests against Adani, including a ‘sit down’ protest blocking the road to the Abbot Point terminal.

She was arrested for trespassing and fined $600.

She said she supports nonviolent direct action activism.

“It’s necessary to draw attention to the issue of climate change and the struggle of First Nations people,” she said.

Coal extraction and export is a core industry in Dawson, but Ms Creen said the Greens had a plan to help coal workers transition out of coal, including through wage subsidies and retraining programs.

“Queensland isn’t just about coal mining,” she said.

Christian Young – United Australia Party

Mr Young lives with his family in Slade Point and works in the mining industry across the Bowen Basin.

He said he was propelled into politics and the UAP in particular because of the “illogical rules” that have emerged in the country over the past two years.

“Two years ago, I was not interested in politics and had little faith in politicians,” he said.

“The impacts the illogical rules had on my business, my wife’s ability to work, my children’s outlook on the world, caused me to say, ‘enough is enough’.

“When the United Australia Party put out the call for candidates, I examined their policies and realised that what the UAP stands for is what I want to fight for.

“The UAP’s vision for the future is the Australia I want my children to grow up in.”

Mr Young said the UAP had a better chance of winning compared to other rival minor parties.

“We also have a clear plan on how we are going to save people’s homes when interest rates rise and deal with the unprecedented level of debt created by the Labor and Liberal governments,” he said.

He added his experience in business demonstrated that he could be trusted with power.

“As a business owner, you realise if you do not stick to your values or focus on what your customers want, you will go out of business very quickly,” he said.

“The fact my business has not only survived the last two years, but thrived, I would suggest is testament to my ability to lead responsibly.

“I see politics as no different.

“I would stick to my values and listen to my customers, who in this case are the electorate.

“As a candidate of the UAP, we are not threatened with being expelled from the party if we do not ‘toe the party line’.

“If the majority of Dawson need something fixed, I will fight to make it happen.”

Ciaron Paterson – Katter’s Australian Party

Mr Paterson has called the Dawson electorate home for the past 19 years.

He comes from a family with a strong military background.

His father served in Vietnam and his mother has also served in the military.

He has worked in bakeries, manufacturing sheds, on fishing boats and cattle stations.

“I moved to Mackay 19 years ago with a young family and obtained a job working in the mines out of the Bowen Basin,” he said.

“While working in the mining sector I also helped build a small Indigenous training and labour higher business within the mining sector.

“This also is one of my passions – to help and bridge the gap with our First Nations people to provide a service for training and job possibilities.”

He said he was running under the KAP banner because he shared the party’s commitment to Australian jobs and industry and its commitment to Christian values.

“Governments need to be accountable to citizens and promote their interests, including the sovereignty and independence of the nation from foreign ownership,” he said.

“This is why I chose to join the party and to try and make a difference.

“We need to build industry back up in Australia and stop selling our nation off to foreign investors.

“We can’t be a country renting our own land from foreign landlords.”

Mr Paterson said his goal was to be a “bloody good MP”.

“KAP is a party based on the belief that politicians are connected to the ground and in touch with the people,” he said.

“For KAP the goal is not to obtain power for its own sake but using it to represent the people.

“My goal is to be what we call in the party a ‘bloody good MP,’ who listens to and acts on the interests of his constituents above all others.”

Julie Hall – One Nation

Mrs Hall is a small-businesswoman who lives in Bowen.

She has three children and three grandchildren.

She said she was attracted to One Nation because in her view it stood for “smaller, smarter, cost-effective government” with less “red tape and green tape.”

“The two tired major political parties have lost their way and are more committed to their corporate donors and their party than they are to the people they were elected to represent,” she said.

“One Nation has a track record that proudly speaks for itself, the party has the runs on the board and elected representatives.

“Senator Hanson addresses the issues that the major parties won’t touch, like family law for example, for fear of losing votes.

“I’m proud to be a candidate for the only party that truly represents the people and puts the people before the politics.”

She said she could be trusted to exercise power because she would act as a “voice for the local people.”

“My first commitment if elected will always be to the people I represent,” she said.

“My door is and always will be open to any constituent with issues that I can assist with.

“As an elected representative I’ll simply be a voice for the local people and I’ll take their issues to Canberra and fight for them on the floor of parliament.”

Phil Batty – Independent

Mr Batty is running to draw attention to what he sees as damaging high-rise development along the Airlie Beach foreshore.

Originally published as Federal election 2022: Meet the candidates for Dawson