Stay in the know

The decision to run as an Independent Senator for South Australia was difficult. I was at a period in my life where I had a comfortable job and achieved my goal of returning home to South Australia. However, I did not like how our country was being run and what the future would hold. We have leaders who refuse to take responsibility, parties that argue purely because the opposition developed an idea, misplaced priorities and representatives who do not represent the average Australian. As I talked with friends, family, colleagues and small business leaders, I discovered many others shared my views. Rather than accepting the future our current leadership would give us, I decided to do something about it.

I have lived in four states and spent many years living in capital cities and rural towns. I have travelled throughout Australia and overseas and worked in finance, construction, energy, mining, IT, and logistics. I have built the foundations required to learn about new fields and know when I need to talk to experts to learn more.

I don't pretend to have the answers to fixing our current system. I know that we need more young blood, ordinary Australians to act as Independents who are not beholden to party politics. We don't need more industry leaders who step into politics at the end of their professional lives or career politicians who joined political parties at university and have never lived outside the Australian political bubble. We need teachers, scientists, engineers, nurses, doctors, carpenters, people who understand what it is to live a normal life and can relate to the average Australian, a far cry from what the average politician looks like today.

I have been asked what a successful political campaign looks like. The obvious answer is being elected and representing all South Australians. This is a great outcome; however, for me, it is not how I will measure a successful campaign. To me, success will be getting more Australians active in the decision making for the future of our nation and holding the major parties to account. Success is not seeing an absolute majority of any party holding power in our Parliament. What we need are non-partisan independents to represent all Australians.