Federal election 2022: Meet the Hinkler candidates

The seven candidates who have already announced they will contest the seat of Hinkler at the upcoming federal election reveal what they think are the big issues facing the region. See what they said.

Update: Shortly after publication, Labor announced its Hinkler candidate.

Read about him here

The seat of Hinkler will be up for grabs come the federal election tipped for May 2022.

Will National Party incumbent Keith Pitt hold on to his seat or will he be ousted by one of the up-and-comers?

Hinkler has only had one Labor MP since 1984: Brian Courtice, whose term stretched from 1987-1993.

Before him, the seat was held by the Nationals‘ Bryan Conquest for three years, and after him, the late Nationals member Paul Neville, from 1993-2013.

The LNP’s Keith Pitt has held on since 2013.

As of Tuesday afternoon, online betting results favoured Mr Pitt to keep his job, paying out just $1.10.

Labor, on the other hand, pays out $15, while a Greens candidate winning the seat could net you a return of more than $100.

The TAB lists the closest competition for Mr Pitt as a potential independent, who would pay $7 in the dollar, $8 more than a United Australia winner.

A Labor party spokesperson told the Bundaberg NewsMail the party would run a candidate in the upcoming election, but no name has been put forward yet.

The following is a list of candidates believed to have their hat in the ring so far, with surnames arranged alphabetically.

Are you running for Hinkler and not on the list? Email [e-mail]

Amy Byrnes is running for Hinkler for the Animal Justice Party.

Amy Byrnes - Animal Justice Party

Ms Byrnes is 25 and works as a customer service officer.

“I’m an animal lover and I love to do whatever I can to help animals in need,” she said.

“Helping animals and the environment is my passion and after the past few years of learning about politics I have realised that being a voice in politics can make one of the biggest impacts.

“After running previously in the federal and state election, I realised how many people want stronger laws to protect the animals and the environment.

“It is so important for someone to stand up for the animals, create a kinder world for all living beings and to help future generations have a healthy planet to live on.

Ms Byrnes is a Hervey Bay local of 10 years and said she was committed to all the region had to offer, from the beauty of the Bay through to the food bowl that is Bundaberg.

“I am committed to engaging with people throughout the region and understanding the issues that concern them,” she said.

Ms Byrnes said the main issues she hoped to address were climate change, a transition to plant-based farming, prevention of future pandemics, protecting wildlife and encouraging more women in politics.

“In the past few years we've experienced record heat waves, fires, floods and coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef,” she said.

“We’re feeling the heat already. Australia needs to do much more to address climate change and reduce the impact of climate change.”

She said the AJP had a plan to declare climate change an emergency and rapidly phase out fossil fuels for clean energy.

Ms Byrnes said animal agriculture was responsible for inflicting cruelty on millions of animals.

“As a society, surely we can do better,” she said.

“We will incentivise a transition from animal to plant-based agriculture.

“Pandemics are rooted in animal exploitation, especially factory farming, and rapidly phasing out all forms of intensive farming will protect our communities,” she said.

Ms Byrnes said more needed to be done to protect the country’s native species.

“The koala package announced by Minister Ley recently was ok but missed the most important factor that must be addressed: land clearing,” she said.

“We need to protect these animals’ habitats by banning land clearing, stopping urban sprawl and rewilding degraded areas to create more habitat. We must also immediately stop the killing of any wildlife for commercial and recreational purposes, especially our Queensland kangaroos who are subject to the world’s greatest slaughter.

“Finally we need to protect marine wildlife by protecting nesting sites for turtles, banning shark nets and commercial fishing, and of course by addressing climate change.”

Ms Byrnes said she was passionate about representing women who often felt their voices were not being heard.

Jack Dempsey - Independent 

Bundaberg Mayor and former LNP state minister Jack Dempsey has confirmed he is running. 

Read more here. 

Andrew McLean - Greens 

"I'm very excited to do my bit in shifting politics away from big corporate interests and back to ordinary people," he says.

"I've enjoyed a diverse career which has found me labouring on farms, serving as a pastor in schools and churches, working on construction sites, being a massage therapist, and running my own successful business as a mobile mechanic. I'm a people person and deeply embedded in our community. I like to listen to people's ideas about the sort of world we could all live in.

"I never thought I would vote Green, let alone become a Greens candidate. I grew up in a rural area, voted LNP, and later became an issues-based swinging voter. But I became utterly disillusioned with how most political parties are dependent on corporate donations.

"Corporations don't make these donations out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it to buy policy outcomes. No wonder people have lost trust in career politicians."

Mr McLean says the Greens do not take corporate donations.

"We are driven by the needs of ordinary people, not the desires of billionaires and corporations," he said. 

"It's time to make these billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share in tax so we can afford to fix the climate, housing and public health crises.

"We can have dental and mental health covered under Medicare, get our relationship right with First Peoples, build enough public homes to make sure everyone has a roof over their head, and make life-long public education and training free, again.

"We can act on climate change and leave no worker or community behind."

Mr McLean says he wants to shift power away from "the big end of town" and back to people.

"Together, we are unstoppable," he said. 

Zak Menhennett is running for Hinkler for One Nation.

Zak Menhennett - One Nation

Zak Menhennett has been a Bundaberg resident for eight years.

“I will be staying active in the community; you will still catch me at local sporting events as well as travelling between Bundaberg, Woodgate, Childers and Hervey Bay staying active in the community but most importantly listening to the community, ensuring their voice is heard across the whole region,” he said.

Mr Menhennett said he was the “people’s choice” for Hinkler and that his top issues would be ending Covid mandates, helping pensioners, supporting farming, jobs, infrastructure, affordable energy and ensuring water supply.

“I will advocate for a $100 a week rise with One Nation under the Work Bonus scheme that would allow pensioners to earn up to $13,000 a year without reducing their pension (the Work Bonus Scheme is currently $7800 annually).

“We believe that you must have lived and worked in Australia for at least 15 years before accessing pension entitlements. One Nation and I opposes the increase to the age of entitlement to 70 years of age.”

Mr Menhennett drew attention to “more than 53 million hectares of prime agricultural land is held by foreign interests”.

“This equates to 14 per cent of Australia’s total 372 million hectares of agricultural land. One Nation and I will ban any further sale of freehold farmland to foreign investors and limit the sale of leasehold farmland to a tenure of 25 years.

“One Nation and I will also reimplement foreign investment review board applications on all agricultural land from expiring free trade agreements.

“I strongly support the re-establishment of a Federal Government backed rural lending fund to safeguard Australian farmers throughout drought and other natural weather events.”

Mr Menhennett said One Nation would increase its national apprenticeship scheme whereby first-year apprentices receive a 75 per cent wage subsidy, followed by 50 per cent the second year, and finally 25 per cent in their third year.

Mr Menhennett said his party would “guarantee” low-cost, reliable, dispatchable power by building new low-emission coal-fired power stations. “We will restore Australia’s essential 90-day fuel security policy with on-shore oil reserves and the capacity to refine fuels for domestic supply,” he said.

“Australia’s abundant natural resources should be for the prosperity of our own citizens instead of our global competitors. One Nation supports the investigation of nuclear power in Australia. We strongly oppose the waste of multi-billion-dollar government subsidy schemes offered to foreign-owned solar and wind projects.

Mr Menhennett said water security was a top issue.

“One Nation will build new water infrastructure projects, including dams (Paradise Dam in particular) and increase the supply to Australian farmers and our growing nation,” he said.

“We will also legislate the full disclosure of water ownership and ban the sale of water to foreign investors.”

Kristie Nash is running for Hinkler for the UAP.

Kristie Nash - United Australia Party

Kristie Nash grew up in regional Victoria before making the move to Queensland in 1997. She had had multiple businesses in e-commerce consultancy.

Her current work focus is on business advisory and digital marketing and she works with a number of Wide Bay businesses.

“My mother was a school teacher and my father a manufacturing worker, so I certainly didn’t come from a privileged background,” she said.

“ I am very close to my brother and my family values as I was growing up placed a strong emphasis on compassion and understanding.

Ms Nash said she was running as she was frustrated with the current member.

“(Voters) are looking for a strong and credible alternative candidate because they still want to vote for conservative values, but are fed up with the LNP,” she said.

Ms Nash said she was Bundaberg based but had also lived in Hervey Bay and spent time there with her work.

“I am very proud of the region I’ve chosen to call home since 2013, and the rich agricultural centre it is famous for. I’ve always been impressed by the diverse opportunities that the region offers for small business and the employment opportunities it provides to the community.

In more recent years I have spent almost half of my time in the Bay with around 50 per cent of my clients’

Ms Nash said that while the Hinkler electorate was large, she had built many connections over the years.

Ms Nash said her party had clear principles focused on a strong economy, affordable cost of living and freedom to live in democracy.

“I will be advocating for policies to support these principles as they are vitally important to our region,” she said.

“I’m concerned about protecting the people, the children and the future of our region.

“That’s why I agree with the UAP’s focus of safeguarding our country’s prosperity, by respecting the constitution which is designed to preserve the rights, freedoms and liberties of all Australians.”

Ms Nash said a government should represent people, not politicians.

“I’m also very keen to tackle the range of issues that are seriously impacting our community which locals have already raised with me,” she said.

These include the Cashless Debit Card, the rental crisis, mental health, frontline workers, water ownership and mobile coverage.

Ms Nash said a review was needed to see if the cashless card was helping or hurting those on it.

She also said the rental crisis needed to be urgently addressed through policy.

Ms Nash said focuses on mental health, including a rise in suicides, homelessness, job losses and the effects of financial hardship were needed to reunite the country.

She hopes to see a review of foreign ownership of Australian resources and water ownership.

Ms Nash described mobile coverage as “sub-standard”.

“I have a proven track record for representing the people in my local community and I will continue to fight my electorate in the national parliament when elected,” she said.

If reading about mental health and suicide has brought up any issues for you, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Keith Pitt. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Keith Pitt - LNP incumbent

Keith Pitt was born and raised in Bundaberg, where he attended local schools and undertook an electrical apprenticeship at Fairymead Sugar Mill.

“I went on to complete a degree in computer and electrical engineering at QUT and before entering politics I owned cane farms and ran a registered training organisation,” he said.

“I have had the honour of representing the residents of Hinkler since 2013 and while there has been a lot achieved since then, there is always more to be done.

“Bundaberg is my home and it’s where I have raised my family. I think my car knows the road from Bundaberg to Hervey Bay better than I do!”

Mr Pitt said throughout his time in office, the whole of Hinkler had been in his sights.

“I have travelled extensively throughout the electorate and opened the first federal electorate office in Hervey Bay in 2019,” he said.

“ I visit the smaller communities concentrated in the central part of the electorate – Childers, Woodgate, Buxton, Howard, Torbanlea, Burrum Heads and Toogoom – as often as possible.”

Mr Pitt said his big issues included jobs and the economy.

“I will continue to do everything I can to attract more local jobs, strengthen the local economy, keep Australians safe, see more apprentices and trainees – even though we are at record levels – and I want ensure local projects are delivered – even though many have been held up by the Queensland State Government,” he said.

Originally published as Federal election 2022: Meet the Hinkler candidates