Former Toowoomba police officer Grant Abraham running for One Nation in Groom federal election

Having stood down from his role as a police officer due to the vaccination mandate, a Toowoomba man has been announced as the local candidate for One Nation at the upcoming election.

Former Toowoomba police officer and child safety worker Grant Abraham has been revealed as the One Nation candidate for Groom at the upcoming federal election.

A former Toowoomba cop and child safety officer has been unveiled as One Nation’s Groom candidate at the upcoming federal election, outlining a host of local national issues he wants to address.

Grant Abraham, who stood down from the Queensland Police Service last year over the vaccine mandates and after a decade in the force, will try to capitalise on what believes is dissatisfaction with the major parties over the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Abraham said he believed Groom voters were looking for an alternative.

“The major parties are promoting their own agendas, not working for the people so it highly motivated me to get involved,” he said.

“I believe there’s a large following of people who want to vote the majors out.

“We understand the government will (most likely) be either Labor or the LNP, but we need to get more heads (in parliament) who will make a difference.

“If I get voted in, I will advocate for the Australia I remember growing up in, the land of opportunity.”

One Nation performed strongly at the 2019 election, polling third on first preferences with more than 13 per cent of the vote.

Mr Abraham said his local issues would focus on supporting small businesses and farmers, boosting public transportation in Toowoomba, fast-tracking the Inland Rail and improving water security.

“I’m an advocate for farmers, I think we need to work for them more,” he said.

“I think we should be looking after our own farmers and helping our own producers, they need support when they go through hard times.

“(Improving) water security goes hand-in-hand with the government and the Bradfield Scheme has been left by the wayside.

“The railway that’s been talked about that definitely should be looked at, we don’t have the public transport into Toowoomba, it would be good to have Toowoomba linked by rail.”

Mr Abraham also expressed his views on a range of national issues that echoed One Nation’s leaders, including around foreign ownership, education reform, improved manufacturing and opposing mandates around the pandemic.

“Education needs to be predominantly around teaching reading, writing and arithmetic,” he said.

“I’m very much an advocate for child safety, so there needs to be a big focus on child safety measures.

“Labor, the LNP and the Greens all have the same agendas, they’re all working with each other.

“The unions are not for the worker, they’re in bed with the political parties, as recently as last year when the police union made clear they’d be supporting the stance of the QPS (around mandates).”

He also accused the major parties of restricting citizen’s freedoms, saying Australia was succumbing to “communism”.

“I’m concerned about the future of this country and the children,” he said.

“It’s just a vein of communism that’s coming through and we’ll end up with social credits and a country called China.

“All these ducks are lining up if you look at the way their freedoms are being taken away.”

Mr Abraham joins LNP MP Garth Hamilton, Labor’s Gen Allpass, United Australia Party’s Melissa Bannister and independents Suzie Holt and Kirstie Smolenski in the race for Groom.