Dickson Candidates

Vinnie Batten

Current Home Suburb: Dayboro
Party affiliation or other: Queensland Greens
Current occupation: Audio/Visual Conferencing Solutions
Background: I’m an environmental scientist, disability advocate and small business owner. I grew up in & out of hospital due to a congenital condition, making me realise the importance of universal access for people that need help regardless of their background. I’m with the Greens because they have a plan for a better future for Australians, as the only party that has consistently voted for strong climate action. I want to live life in a country that takes care of everyone.

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• Strong action on climate change in a renewable green economy
• Bringing dental & mental health into Medicare
• Making billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share, including donation reform to reduce their grip on our political system

How will you address and deliver these?: The Greens believe that a more diverse parliament better reflects society, and that our two-party system simply isn’t delivering positively for Australians, particularly under conservative leadership. We have gone backwards on the things that matter: education, telecommunications, human rights, climate action, democracy, aged care.. The list goes on. It’s time to put the Greens in balance of power with a Labor government to keep them accountable and push for community-first progressive change. With only a 1.5% swing, we can replace Pauline Hanson’s seat with a second QLD Greens senator, where we will fight to implement our 15 Big Ideas to fight for the future: https://greens.org.au/future

Alan Buchbach

Current Home Suburb: Albany Creek
Party affiliation or other: Independent
Current occupation: Geologist
Background: Alan is a polymath with an expansive background. At 18 Alan joined the Army Reserve (Medical Corps) while studying biotechnology. After the biotech industry packed up from Queensland, Alan retrained as a geologist and headed to WA during the mining boom. Subsequently Alan has worked in just about all aspects of the geology profession: Environmental, precious metals, base metals, energy resources, heavy mineral sands, silica sand and construction materials. In both production and exploration roles. While working full-time, Alan has continued to study. He has earned qualifications in Finance and Economics. Alan is committed to providing a fact & evidence backed approach to solving the many issues facing his fellow Dicksonians.

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• Prosperity
• Education
• Security

How will you address and deliver these?: Eliminate the nuisance taxes and high compliance costs as recommended by the Treasury dept, act on Foreign Investment Review Board recommendations to close loopholes. Restructure education funding and promote investment in defence industries and critical infrastructure. Take a prosperity-based approach to adapting to our changing climate: Low energy costs are critical for all Australians.

Hon Peter Dutton MP

Current Home Suburb: Dayboro
Party affiliation or other: Liberal National Party of Queensland
Current occupation: Federal Member for Dickson and Minister for Defence.
Background: Peter Dutton is the Federal Member for Dickson and Minister for Defence. As your local member since 2001, Peter continues to work hard for our community. He is committed to improving our way of life, reducing taxes, lowering your cost of living and building better roads and transport links. As Defence Minister, Peter ensures our country is protected from many threats. Peter lives in Dayboro with his wife Kirilly and is the father of three children, Rebecca, Harry and Tom.

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• Delivering more local jobs
• Building better roads, transport links and community facilities
• Making record investments in health, aged care and other essential services

How will you address and deliver these?: I am working with the community to deliver the community facilities, road and transport upgrades our community needs to make it an even better place to live.
I’m proud to have delivered the new university at Petrie, the All-Abilities Playground at Leslie Patrick Park and upgrades to the Hills District PCYC. In coming months, we will also see the completion of the new Park ‘n’ ride at Ferny Grove train station providing 1400 car parks for commuters.
By delivering important projects like these, hundreds of local jobs have been created and we have been able to keep our economy strong through the pandemic. This means we can continue making record investments in our hospitals, aged care and other essential services.

Ali France

Current Home Suburb: Arana Hills
Party affiliation or other: Australia Labor Party
Current occupation: Full-time federal candidate as at 2022. Prior to that worked in government communications and public policy.
Background: I’ve lived on Brisbane’s Northside for 13 years, having worked and lived overseas in the private and public sectors. I’m mum to two teenage boys and understand the pressures of raising a family while working full-time, that is why I am so passionate about cheaper childcare and secure jobs for all families. I got involved in politics after loosing my leg in an accident 10 years ago and have been advocating for people with a disability and those with chronic health conditions ever since. I am deeply passionate about Medicare, it saved my life, and ensuring everyone has access to good quality healthcare. I am really passionate about our local community and want to see us emerge from the Covid pandemic better and stronger.

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• A better life for you and your family – strengthening Medicare, cheaper childcare, more affordable housing and fixing the aged care crisis.
• More secure, well paid jobs – investing in training and skills like TAFE, closing the gender pay gap, same job/same pay.
• A Future Made in Australia – bring manufacturing back to Australia, backing Aussie ingenuity which will deliver more jobs at home.

How will you address and deliver these?: Most people I speak to in the electorate tell me that health care has become too expensive. Ensuring everyone can afford to go to the GP, get a test and scan is a priority. So many parents have told me that childcare fees are out of control, we will make early childhood education free for the vast majority of Dickson families, putting more money in their pockets to spend locally. Most young people in our electorate want secure work, good well paid jobs so that they can one day buy a home or even just move out of their parents homes. We are going to make TAFE free for skills that we need, ensure that federally funded projects are employing apprentices and trainees and invest in Aussie manufacturing to deliver the jobs of the future.

Tamera Gibson

Current Home Suburb: Wights Mountain
Party affiliation or other: Pauline Hanson’s One Nation
Current occupation: Owner of a retail business in the Samford Valley
Background: I started my working life as an officer in the Navy. I then worked in executive management in the Aged and Disability, then Banking sector and also worked in Education. I have also started and run my own businesses in Hospitality & Tourism, Sustainable acreage Management and now the retail sector. I have lived in many cultures and worked in 3 countries, so I bring a depth of experience to a representative role that is greatly enhanced by cultural diversity. I currently live in the Samford Valley, where I have resided and raised a family since my return to Australia in 2006

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?: The biggest issues people are speaking to me about in our community are

• Cost of living pressures 
• Infrastructure issues.
• The lack of respect governments have shown for personal choice and freedoms. People want the government to get out of their homes, their businesses, their doctors surgeries and their kids classrooms. They want ‘back to basic’ education. They want to be able to trust their doctor again. They want free and open discussion without being censored by “big tech” or big money!

How will you address and deliver these?: 

• Ensuring reliable affordable base load power to fuel homes and industry. We can not have viable manufacturing, industry and agricultural sector without affordable and reliable base load power.
• Ensuring every persons right to earn a living. Restoring the “rules” written in the Australian constitution and the Vaccination Handbook to ensure that people are not coerced by government’s or employers into vaccination or other medical procedures.
• Providing a free and prosperous future for our children based on true representative government, transparency and accountability.
• Improve infrastructure to help our community and commerce function better. Some of our constituents still do not have NBN access, 11 years after it was first rolled out. Our roads are congested in peak hour traffic. Youngs Crossing has flooded regularly for decades and yet I believe the touted plan to have it fixed by 2024 still does not have the state’s contribution of funding confirmed. North Pine Dam has had a faulty flood gate for years requiring release of water when it reaches 68%, so it is no longer fully effective for flood mitigation or water storage.

Thor Prohaska

Current Home Suburb: Lawnton
Party affiliation or other: Independent
Current occupation: Business Analyst
Background: I was born & raised in North Queensland, lived in Victoria, NSW, & SA. Never been overseas. Worked as a labourer, public servant, sales representative, taxi driver, and for most of my career, IT. I was a pioneer of snowboarding in Australia. I’ve lived in the electorate of Dickson for 19 years raising a family of 4. I’ve stood for elected office 6 times since 2013. I was the Independent Candidate for Dickson in 2016 & 2019.

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• Build and operate an effective mechanism to allow the voter’s of Dickson inform their elected member how they want them to vote on Bills.
• Register all Dickson voter’s so they can vote themselves on Bills or select an electorate Community or Bill representative to vote on their behalf.
• Establish and operate local voter groups to debate and reach consensus on Bills both in the real world and online. And to identify and develop voters to be candidates for election.

How will you address and deliver these?:

• I say Your elected representative should represent what you and the majority in the electorate want … not what the representative, or their party, or donors or mates want.
• The major parties say this is not a workable way to run government and have ignored the voter’s pleas for real democracy! But not anymore!
• The Dickson Representatives have developed a non-political mechanism to effectively and efficiently inform the elected Member for Dickson of how the voters want them to vote on Bills in Parliament.
• To guarantee this if I’m elected, I have legally bound myself, by signing a Statutory Declaration, to represent what the voters of Dickson want, or resign.

Alina Ward

Current Home Suburb: Lawnton
Party affiliation or other: United Australia Party
Current occupation: NDIS/Child Protection
Background: Growing up on a dairy farm in Dayboro, Alina and her family won multiple awards for their continual increase in butterfat, protein, and milk quantity despite the odds of being able to increase all three. Alina’s mother and father used alternative natural and nurturing ways to farm, going against the DPI and proving that holistic approaches to farming can improve quality of farming. Alina worked alongside her family while also completing school. She completed a traineeship in Children’s services and later completed a Diploma of children’s services. In 2011, Alina Worked her way around the world for two years earning herself a wealth of knowledge in different practices of Early childhood, Working with Higher Needs Children and Child Protection before returning home. She has spent the last 12 years working in multiple roles Early childhood, NDIS and Child Protection. Alina dedicates her life to children and ensuring they have the best possible start to life and safeguarding them from predators who seek to take advantage of their innocence.

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• Establishing effective Community programs to safeguard vulnerable communities (The elderly, higher needs and children)
• A more effective and cheaper public Transport system to cater to the growing population and to make jobs more accessible to those who long distance travel for work. This also lifts road stress and chaos and will allow for the start and completion of road projects.
• Resolving the housing crisis

How will you address and deliver these?:
The UAP policies allow us to pay back our 1.4 trillion-dollar debt without taking from the people. Because we have an economic plan, we can already budget money towards each electorate allowing us to move forward and fund community needs. Bringing 1/3 of our super home allows us to invest around 6 billion dollars per electorate, meaning we can commit to prioritised projects.

Ryan Candidates

Damian Coory

Current Home Suburb: Toowong
Party affiliation or other: Liberal Democrats
Current occupation: Business owner – Corporate Communications Training
Background: Brisbane-born-and-bred Damian has 35 years’ experience working in leadership roles in media and corporate PR across the Asia-Pacific. He’s a former country Managing Director at Edelman, one of the world’s largest PR firms. Damian specializes in executive training and crisis communications. Before entering PR, he spent 13 years as a senior radio and TV journalist in Australia, working for the ABC, Network Ten, 3AW, 4BC and Triple-M networks. He holds an MBA from Australia’s leading business school, the AGSM (UNSW).

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate? Ensuring the kids of Ryan can grow up in a free Australia that supports their success and our success as a nation by making sure:

• There are enough jobs for the kids of Ryan and they are in well-paying industries because we are a country that supports business, entrepreneurship and education.
• That our kids aren’t saddled by crippling debt. Irresponsible government spending has left Australia heading for ONE TRILLION DOLLARS in federal debt and many hundreds of BILLIONS more in state debt. This is so immoral and unjust because it means we are spending money now our kids have to earn and pay back tomorrow. Just the interest bill alone on that much debt is likely to be more than 65BILLION a year by 2030, which represents a full one-tenth of the whole annual budget the federal government spends on EVERYTHING.
• Our cultural institutions are more balanced in the ideologies they teach and share, and we rein-in big tech censorship. We need to teach the history of western culutre and thought, classical liberalism, the capitalist system and how it creates wealth, and free-market economics alongside the identity politics, socialist and neo-marxist philosophies like CRT currently dominating our schools, universities and social and mainstream media channels.

How will you address and deliver these?: 

• By slashing red-tape, supporting instead of hindering small business success and growth fixing our awful taxation system and building a culture that rewards success, innovation and entrepreneurialism.
• Cutting all government spending (except defence) by 10% and 1% a year for 10 years after that until the debt is paid off. This will be required to be done in areas of waste, not of value, so that services are minimally affected. Senior bureaucrats who fail at this will be removed. 2A. By not permitting governments to run large budget deficits.
• We need an ABC for EVERYONE and we only need the ABC to do what commercial media can’t, not compete with commercial media. We need to actively promote academics who think differently, and courses that teach more broadly, to ensure the kind of diversity that really counts in our universities: diversity of thought and ideas.

Peter Cossar

Current Home Suburb: Toowong
Party affiliation or other: Australia Labor Party
Current occupation: Self employed
Background: Started my working life doing a trade, put myself through university and I have been self-employed in the Arts and Building sector for over 30 years.

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• Housing affordability
• Aged Care Reform
• Climate change

How will you address and deliver these?: 

• Housing affordability: Use the Housing Future Fund to build both social and affordable housing.
• Aged care: Implement the recommendations set out by the Royal Commission into aged care, especially Nurse Ratios, Job Security and Pay.
• Climate Change: Community Batteries, Upgrade the Grid, 10,000 in New Energy Apprentices, Electric Car Discount, Develop a National Electric Car Vehicle Strategy.

Axel Dancoisne

Current Home Suburb: Pullenvale
Party affiliation or other: Australian Federation Party
Current occupation: Self Employed
Background: I am a Queenslander of French heritage, running an enterprise architecture consulting and training business in Brisbane, called WBISCT Consulting and Training. I have been appalled by the impact of government COVID responses on community, business and family life. I have seen the writing on the wall for many years with bills and legislation eroding our rights and freedoms every day. I cannot sit and wait any longer for someone in existing parties to act upon such existential threat to our lives. The lack of representation for small business has driven me to put myself forward to challenge the Liberal Party’s lip service to representation of the small business sector for Ryan.

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• Collaborating with the BFPCA to stop the noise pollution caused by aircrafts over our RYAN community.
• Prioritising and addressing the current living affordability issues we are facing after the destruction of business and huge unemployment associated with high suicide rate caused by ALP and NLP governments.
• Let our RYAN people have their fair say in open debates on ALL subjects without fear of cancellation and censorship.

How will you address and deliver these?: 

• Getting RYAN a local representative like myself with real world experience and knowledge of business. Liaising with our community volunteers and ensuring that government organisation and authorities take note and act on our demands in a timely fashion.
• Shifting the focus of MPs from self-preservation to solving problems locally and nationally. Less talk and promises, more actual deliveries by order of need. Rehiring all the employees who lost their jobs unduly because of political power games and errancies. Start being inclusive and no more exclusive.
• Encouraging open public debate on the problems facing the country, without being constrained by political correctness. I want to organise regular gatherings in RYAN district to report back face to face to my electorate on what is going on in Canberra an what it means to us all. I want to reinform and empower our people.

Kathrine Pollard               Information still to come

Current Home Suburb: 
Party affiliation or other: United Australia Party
Current occupation: 
Background: 

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

How will you address and deliver these?: 

Janine Rees

Current Home Suburb: Keperra
Party affiliation or other: Australian Progressives
Current occupation: Teacher
Background: I’m a primary school teacher, graduating in 1992, a small business owner from 2000-2018 an advocate for women and children’s safety and mother to three teenagers. I’ve lived and worked in Ryan most of my life. I’m survivor of 30 years of domestic violence and 4 years of post separation abuse, was made homeless and financially decimated. I’m now working towards changing many the systems that failed us. 

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• First priority is Equality. Safety for all women and children. Accountability for perpetrators and professionals who enable them. Closing the pay gap. Ending poverty. Affordable housing. Affordable, appropriate aged care. Equality in education and health care. Introduced dental and mental health care as part of Medicare. 
• Second is Integrity. We need an independent Federal Anti-Corruption Commission and transparency in institutions at all levels of government. 
• Thirdly we want immediate climate action. 

How will you address and deliver these?: 
Coercive control and domestic violence laws. Pay increases for traditionally women’s work; teachers, nurses, carers. Revoking the Indue cashless debit card. Finance sector address women’s super increased super contributions for women who’ve been out of the workforce caring for children and parents. Finance and banking address loans for women who e experienced domestic violence. Support (legal and financial) for victims of domestic violence to recover and rebuild. Create a trauma recovery centre in Ryan. Create more Men’s Behaviour Chamfe facilities. Create an Independent Federal ICAC. Repeal Section 121 of the Family Law Act. Gonski funding for all school leaders to level the playing field. Dental and mental health care with Medicare. Increased aged care standards. A nurse on duty always in every aged care residence. More in home care funding.  Solar power and batteries heavily funded so all homes are solar powered. Community gardens.

Julian Simmonds MP

Current Home Suburb: Taringa
Party affiliation or other: Liberal National Party of Queensland
Current occupation: Federal Member for Ryan; Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement
Background: I grew up locally and now, along with my wife Madeline, young son Theodore and daughter Isabelle, have chosen to raise our own family here. Growing up, I experienced the world through the eyes of a small business family and I know there is no substitute for hard work.
In 2010, I was elected as Councillor for the Walter Taylor Ward and served as Chairman for Finance, Economic Development and Administration (2012-2016), and Chairman for City Planning (2016-2018).
In 2019, I was elected as Federal Member for Ryan.

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• Fixing Local roads and reducing traffic – Delivering better local roads to reduce congestion and to get you home sooner and safer.
•  Protecting our local lifestyle and environment – taking real and practical action to protect our environment while growing industry here in Australia.
•  Supporting families – As a young dad, I know the joy – and uncertainty – that comes with raising a young family. I want to make sure families in our area have access to the best education opportunities, and quality affordable healthcare.

How will you address and deliver these?: 

• Fixing Local roads and reducing traffic – I’ve secured over $230m for local road projects. Now, I’m fighting for more bus pull-in bays on Waterworks Road, The Gap, to upgrade the Met Road 5 through Bardon, and to fix more local black spots.
•  Protecting our local lifestyle and environment – Delivering real action on Climate Change with a fully costed plan for net zero by 2050. Backing technology, not taxes, by investing in renewables. Continuing to support our local catchment and bushcare groups with funding for local projects.
•  Supporting families – Helping young families to get ahead by removing the cap on the Child Care Subsidy. We’re also reducing out of pocket costs for X-Rays, ultrasounds and other scans and adding more everyday medicines to the PBS.

Elizabeth Watson-Brown

Current Home Suburb: St Lucia
Party affiliation or other: Queensland Greens
Current occupation: Architect
Background: I’ve spent the majority of my life in the Ryan electorate, having studied at the University of Queensland where I’m now an Adjunct Professor. My children and grandchildren have all grown up in the local community. I started my own architectural practice here and ran it for over 20 years, before joining a national firm as Design Director. My architectural career has emphasised sustainable design, accessibility and social equity, principles which would guide me as Ryan’s MP.

What are your three top priorities for your Electorate?:

• Advocating for real action on climate change. It’s a tired myth that taking action on climate and supporting a thriving economy are incompatible.
• Tackling our housing affordability crisis, as rising prices make homes unattainable for many. I’ll be a voice for sustainable planning and for access to essential community infrastructure for all.
• Investment in our education system, tackling class sizes, supporting overworked teachers and ensuring everyone has access to a quality education from childcare through to university/TAFE.

How will you address and deliver these?: I will:

• Work to make Australia a global leader in renewables and clean energy exports, by reviving manufacturing in batteries and zero-emissions steel and aluminium, to ensure Australia is no longer a global failure on climate.
• Negotiate for our plan to build homes across Australia, including market access for $300,000 for first-homebuyers. We’ll also end the waiting list for public housing, which is now over 50,000 in Queensland.
• Be a voice for the community independent of the major parties. I’ll work for donations reform and a federal corruption commission with teeth so that politics can work for people again.