Petrie candidates: Federal Election 2022

Moreton Daily invited candidates in the Federal Election to answer the same questions, with a word limit, and provide a photo.

Their responses are listed below in the same order their names will appear on the ballot paper.

Some responses have been edited to ensure all are a similar length, and candidates receive fair and even treatment.

Note: Journalist Ashleigh Howarth is not related to the Liberal National Party candidate Luke Howarth.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OFFICIAL AEC MAP OF PETRIE ELECTORATE

Here are your candidates for the seat of Petrie:

Name: Kelly Guenoun

Party: United Australia Party

Suburb: Mango Hill

Profession: Self-employed Bookkeeper

How will you address the rising cost of living and stagnant wages?

Capping home loan rates at 3 per cent to save defaults and home foreclosures.

Implementing a 15 per cent Iron Ore Export Licence paying down the national debt in 20 years. By paying off this debt quickly, it allows us more money to spend on other areas like health, disability, and education.

Increasing the age pension by $180 a fortnight.

Freeze the fuel excise.

The first $30,000 of interest from your home loan tax deductible every year for the life of your loan.

Reducing the income tax on a second job to create 50 per cent more take home income.

We will link all Department of Veteran's Affairs service pensions to the male total average earnings. We will expand all gold card benefits to all peacekeepers. Gold card benefits will be automatically delivered to the spouses of all veterans for the term of their life.

25 per cent of the wealth generated from regions in Australia must be returned to that region, so the wealth can be reinvested in the region that generated it.

Bring back $1 trillion of super to invest in Australian infrastructure not foreign projects. This creates jobs making our country run more efficiently.

What commitments are you making in relation to the region’s roads and infrastructure needs?

$1 trillion in superannuation will be brought back to Australia to invest in onshore infrastructure projects. It is time we invest in our country so that we can benefit from these projects. We are committed to working with state and local governments to ensure that projects for the region are distributed evenly to businesses within this electorate.

How will you address health and aged care needs?

When elected we will end all mandates immediately and reinstate all aged care and healthcare workers back into their jobs to fill the shortages in staffing. We will look at the sectors individually and work in collaboration with these sectors to understand what they need and ensure that the $40 billion dollars of funding goes directly to the needs within this industry without funds being siphoned off by state governments. We will work towards ensuring that aged care reforms are implemented.

How will you support small business?

No mandates. All provisional tax payable at the end of the financial year to free up funds to invest in and grow businesses. Approximately $90 billion dollars will generate into the economy. We will abolish fringe benefits tax as this stifles growth and demand and in doing so generates $60 billion into the economy. We will reduce the tax rate on a person’s second job so that workers would be more inclined to seek out a second job. Free higher education will provide greater amounts of skilled workers to enter the workforce.

What is your position on climate change and how would you work to achieve it?

We cannot rely entirely on wind and solar to power our country. We need coal, oil and gas as well as reliable clean energy like nuclear power - all these energy sources are vital parts of our energy mix, ensuring our current standard of living. Reliable water supplies are vital for the success of farming and to sustain life. When elected we would look to ensure that Australia is able to sustain itself without the need to rely on imports.

Name: Will Simon

Party: Queensland Greens

Suburb: Margate

Profession: Student

How will you address the rising cost of living and stagnant wages?

The cost of living is insane. Our plan is to build more social housing to empty the waiting lists and provide affordable housing for all, while lowering the prices for first homebuyers. We are fighting for free education for all, from free childcare to restoring free University and TAFE, and cancelling all HECS debt. To boost wages, we plan on legislating to increase the minimum wage and raising all income support payments above the poverty line (to $88), which will lead to wage growth for thousands of working people.

What commitments are you making in relation to the region’s roads and infrastructure needs?

The best way to tackle congestion is to invest properly in public transportation. The Green’s plan this election is to secure an additional $25 billion for the expansion of rail and bus lines, for better, more frequent, and more reliable public transportation around the entire region. Less cars on the road will make it easier to get to work, reduce CO2 emissions and protect local wildlife, like koalas, who are now frequently being hit on roads.

How will you address health and aged care needs?

Medicare must be defended and extended. We are fighting to have dental and mental health services to be covered by Medicare. Currently four big corporations’ control 70 per cent of the private health market and are ripping us off - we support re-investing private health insurance rebates into public hospitals for the benefit of everyone. Similarly, aged care is being run for profit and this needs to be phased out. I fully support the introduction of staff to resident ratios, investing more in aged care and raising the wages of those working in aged care.

How will you support small business?

Small businesses in the local community are very important, that's why we want them to be at the front and centre of new opportunities in a green economy. We're proposing giving grants to small businesses to help them pivot away from gas to more sustainable and long-term options. One of the best things we can do for small businesses locally is to equal out the playing field. 1-in-3 big corporations pay absolutely no tax. This isn't fair, that's why we're proposing to close all of the loopholes exploited by the large companies, introduce a wealth tax on the billionaires and tax the super-profits of the massive multinational corporations.

What is your position on climate change and how would you work to achieve it?

When it comes to tackling the climate crisis, the Greens are the only ones with a plan that listens to the science. It's no wonder, since the major parties receive donations from the big fossil fuel companies. We want Australia to reach net zero emissions by 2035, powered entirely by a publicly owned renewable energy grid. In the transition away from fossil fuels, we want to bring back manufacturing jobs to produce the green energy of the future, while also protecting the livelihoods of those who currently work in coal/gas by introducing a Job-for-Job guarantee and free re-skilling. We've really got an opportunity to bring new investment to Queensland and protect our environment at the same time.

Name: Anneke Wilson

Party: Liberal Democratic Party

We have made attempts to reach Ms Wilson, so she can provide a candidate profile. She had not yet responded by the time of publication.

Name: Marcus Mitchell

Party: Pauline Hanson’s One Nation

We have made attempts to reach Mr Mitchell, so he can provide a candidate profile. He had not yet responded by the time of publication.

Name: Mick Denton

Party: Australian Labor Party

Suburb: North Lakes

Profession: Oil Refinery Operator

How will you address the rising cost of living and stagnant wages?

It is clear that the Morrison Government's policies are failing the people of Petrie. Inflation is at 20-year highs (5.1 per cent), interest rates are going up, power prices are soaring, fuel is at over $2 a litre and wages are going backwards.

Labor will create well paid, secure jobs, by supporting Australian manufacturing and ensuring Government contracts are required to buy local. We will create more jobs by building community batteries locally, and introduce same job same pay legislation to ensure that labour hire is not used to undercut workers’ pay. Labor will make wage theft, where employers don't pay workers properly, illegal and Labor will also reduce the cost of childcare for 96 per cent of families by increasing childcare subsidies and cut power bills by $275 a year by 2025 to ease cost of living pressures.

What commitments are you making in relation to the region’s roads and infrastructure needs?

The Morrison Government has failed to deliver the road and infrastructure projects our community needs. If elected, Labor has committed $200 million to expand the Bruce Highway to enable on/off ramps onto Dohles Rocks Rd, we will install a Community Battery in the Mango Hill- Griffin area to reduce power bills and provide an Urgent Care Clinic for Redcliffe to take pressure off the Redcliffe Hospital Emergency Department.

How will you address health and aged care needs?

Morrison and the LNP have failed to deliver proper funding for the Health and Aged care sectors. Labor will deliver an Urgent Care Clinic for Redcliffe and we will protect Medicare because all Australians deserve access to world-class medical care. Labor will ensure that there are registered nurses on site 24/7 in every aged care facility and back a real pay rise for aged care workers which is another policy to tackle stagnant wages and cost of living pressures. Labor will also ensure that there is better food for residents of aged care homes because we believe those in aged care deserve dignity in their later years.

How will you support small business?

Labor is committed to a better deal for small businesses. We will introduce a mechanism to ensure small businesses are paid on time, within 30 days. I know from my conversations with small business owners that there is a shortage of skilled workers to hire. We will deliver 465,000 fee-free TAFE places and $50 million to the TAFE technology fund. A Labor government will also deliver up to 20,000 new university places.

Labor will also work with small businesses to reduce transaction cost at point of payment as they are disproportionately impacted by higher transaction fees that eat into profits to the tune of $804 million per year. We will also maximise small business participation in Commonwealth procurement, providing greater opportunities for business and Australian jobs.

What is your position on climate change and how would you work to achieve it?

We have seen 10 wasted years under Morrison and the LNP on this front. Labor’s Powering Australia Plan will create 604,000 jobs, cut power bills, spur $76 Billion of investment, and reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and keep us on track for net zero by 2050.

Name: Luke Howarth

Party: LNP Liberal National Party

Suburb: Clontarf Petrie Electorate

Profession: Federal Member for Petrie and Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services, formerly Sandgate Pest Control

How will you address the rising cost of living and stagnant wages?

The pandemic and recent conflict in Ukraine are pushing up the cost of living for Australians.

The LNP is responding with targeted and responsible measures as part of our plan for a stronger future.

Our practical measures include:

• Halving fuel excise for six months - saving Australians 22 cents a litre every time they fill their vehicle.

• Tax cuts in your return for more than 10 million low-and-middle income earners from 1 July this year.

• A one-off $250 cost of living payment for more than six million Australians.

• Income tax cut to 30c in the dollar for wages up to $200,000 giving you more in your pocket.

What commitments are you making in relation to the region’s roads and infrastructure needs?

I’ve secured over $18 million for Redcliffe Peninsula to bring forward MBRC’s Klingner and Ashmole Road project and develop a Centre of Excellence at Dolphins to develop our local athletes and new facilities for Redcliffe Leagues Softball Club, Tigers AFC.

I’ve secured more than $1 billion in road funding for Linkfield and Beams Road Overpasses, Griffin on and off Ramps, Gateway Highway upgrades between Bracken Ridge and the Pine River and I’m not giving the State Labor government another cent until those projects are started.

How will you address health and aged care needs?

Thanks to a strong economy, we’ve doubled the funding locally, delivering an MRI and new ICU unit at Redcliffe Hospital.

We’re training more nurses and health care professionals than ever before through apprenticeships, Jobtrainer funding and university courses.

We have made Telehealth a permanent service. We have listed over 2,900 medicines worth $15 billion on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. These medicines help people suffering chronic disease like cancer, heart disease, epilepsy, spinal muscular atrophy, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, severe asthma, severe osteoporosis, and chronic migraines.

Changes to the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card mean an extra 50,000 older Australians will have access to more affordable health care and medications.

How will you support small business?

Our economic policies are working with unemployment now at 4 per cent, meaning 367,500 more Australians in work now than pre-COVID.

New measures to help the 3.6 million small businesses that employ almost eight million Australians include:

• Big tax deductions for training employees, buying new equipment, and investing in new technology like cloud computing, e-Invoicing, cyber security, and web design.
• I’m running Job Fairs nationally to connect businesses with jobseekers.

What is your position on climate change and how would you work to achieve it?

We’ve signed up to net zero emissions by 2050 and we have a clear plan to achieve it, focused on technologies and not taxes.

Our emissions are down 22 per cent, lower than Canada, New Zealand and the USA combined in the last 15 years.

One-in-three houses and more sporting clubs and community organisations in Petrie now have solar panels and I’ve upgraded Padres Baseball, North Lakes Eels, Sea Snakes Rugby and Peninsula Power thanks to Coalition Government grant programs.

The Morrison Government is leading the way on waste and plastic, paper, tyres, and glass waste recycling, creating over 10,000 jobs in the process and launching the ReMade in Australia trademark. Through ARENA we’re funding solar microgrids for small community towns and building more electric car charges, including Ampol Kippa-Ring.

Name: Chris Chicchitti

Party: Animal Justice Party

Suburb: Scarborough

Profession: Logistics Management

How will you address the rising cost of living and stagnant wages?

• Introduce broader measures of economic assessment which recognise the intrinsic value and wellbeing of animals, nature, and people.

• Offer support to people and businesses that want to transition away from exploiting animals and the environment.

• Appoint a Future Generations Commissioner and legislate for the rights of future generations of animals and people to be taken into account in decisions that have long-term economic, social, and environmental impacts. use monetary policies to maintain the balance between inflation, wage growth and the cash rate.

• Reduce the occurrence of zoonotic diseases by ending animal exploitation and environmental destruction. A reduction in these diseases would also mean a reduction in corresponding lockdowns and job losses.

• Implement a Jobs Guarantee and Universal Basic Income programs to create secure, ethical, and meaningful employment and reduce poverty.

What commitments are you making in relation to the region’s roads and infrastructure needs?

• Encourage the growth of efficient, low carbon transport and steep reductions in private vehicles, particularly in urban areas.

• Provide financial incentives to both producers and consumers to switch to more eco-friendly land transport solutions.

• Ensure that public transport is affordable, reliable, accessible, and safe for all people and companion animals.

• Prioritise walkability, active transport, and public transport in town planning while minimising travel time.

• Support the technologies and practices that will allow for remote work where appropriate.

How will you address health and aged care needs?

• Change taxation to be fairer and more efficient, and to reflect the costs to society and address ‘negative externalities’. For example, end subsidies to products derived from animal exploitation and/or environmentally destructive practices.

How will you support small business?

• All of the above also support businesses.

• Offer support to people and businesses that want to transition away from exploiting animals and the environment.

• Ensure banking, superannuation and other investment products offer options that promote environmental sustainability and animal protection.

What is your position on climate change and how would you work to achieve it?

• Rapidly phase out fossil fuels and transform to clean energy infrastructure.

• Put planet over profit.

• End species extinction.

• Protect the rights of the natural world · Declare a climate emergency.

• Rapidly transition from animal agriculture (responsible for a large part of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions) to plant-based agriculture

• Commit to ambitious emission reduction targets