Toowoomba anti-mandate organiser Melissa Bannister announced as Groom candidate for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party for federal election

The Groom candidate for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party has been revealed as a local health worker who helped organise anti-vaccine mandate protests. But she says that isn't her whole campaign.

Toowoomba health worker and anti-vaccine mandate organiser Melissa Bannister has been revealed as the Groom candidate for the United Australia Party ahead of the 2022 Federal Election.

A Toowoomba health worker and local anti-vaccine mandate organiser has been announced as the Groom candidate for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, but she insists the campaign will be about more than restrictions.

Melissa Bannister has announced her candidacy for the upcoming election, having been inspired to sign up for the UAP late last year during the peak of the anti-mandate movement.

Ms Bannister, who was raised and schooled in Toowoomba and has a diverse corporation background, said her focus was not just on the current restrictions but also support for small businesses.

“Groom deserves a representative who supports our small businesses and believes in our community’s abilities to decide what is good for them,” she said.

“I was certainly a big organiser in a pro-choice gathering late last year, and that brought together concerned business owners and residents about how they continued to be affected by restrictions and mandates.

“Many businesses will never recover, some have closed their doors.

“I’ve spoken to two local travel agents about how much the industry has lost — hospitality has really suffered as well.”

Ms Bannister also expressed interest in projects like light rail in Toowoomba as well as finding greater water security for the region.

When asked how many people she believed had died from Covid, Ms Bannister said the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggested the country should be “logical” about its approach to Covid, pointing to the number of people who had comorbidities.

The data showed 2556 people have died from Covid-19 across Australia since the pandemic began, with nearly 70 per cent of them having pre-existing conditions.

“I think it’s interesting to look at these recent ABS statistics — we can have a look at and we just need to be logical about the amount of people who have died from Covid,” she said.

“Every single death is a tragedy, Covid or not, (but) we can be clear from ABS data that the majority of people had underlying comorbidities or health issues.”

Ms Bannister said most advertising would be handled nationally, also noting she had potentially hundreds of volunteers ready to assist.