After months of speculation, the Palmer United party finally revealed the candidates who will stand in the Victorian election on 29 November.
There are 19 candidates in total, who between them will contest all eight Legislative Council regions.
But who are they? With less than three weeks left before Victoria votes, Guardian Australia interviewed as many candidates as possible to reveal what they, and the party, stand for.
Most of the candidates we spoke to said they were unsure of key Palmer United policies for Victoria, or that they didn’t want to reveal them before Sunday, the day of the official policy platform launch. All said their primary focus was to gain the balance of power.
Two days after announcing the candidates, the Palmer United party’s Victorian press office was unable to provide a contact number for any of them. On Monday they said they would “have to look for them”.
The candidates are a diverse but largely unknown group (aside from fishing show host Jason Kennedy), with varying levels of political experience. Here are the views of those we succeeded in tracking down.
South Eastern Metropolitan
Jatinder ‘Bobby’ Singh – automotive mechanical business owner
“I run a small auto-technician business in Dandenong and have been in the area for 25 years. I’ve seen the Holden factory close and many manufacturing businesses disappearing. The cost of living is increasing too, and I don’t see a great future for our children.
“I was a candidate for the party in the federal election last year. I was invited to put in an application for the state election about six months ago.
“Clive Palmer is one of the most generous men, who wants to do something for ordinary people. But I’m not standing for Clive, I’m standing for the party. He’s the one funding the party and he has a lot of input and is giving us a lot of financial help, but we are all doing as much as we can financially and emotionally.
“We are launching our policies on Sunday and I don’t really know what they are, but we are against the sale of public assets and we oppose the privatisation of the Port of Melbourne. I haven’t got much other information but a lot of people have had input into them [the polices].
Northern Metropolitan
Maria Rigoni – finance broker
“I applied as a candidate in January – I wasn’t approached to apply though. I became involved because I see Clive Palmer and the party as being able to give opportunities to ordinary people and able to do something about changing the status quo. I was previously involved with the Bank Reform party in the federal election, but it went in a different direction and I decided it wasn’t for me.
“Having the balance of power to me is about looking at everything being presented to you carefully to make sure it is in the best interests of the people. It’s looking at how legislation affects everyone, and bringing integrity back into the parliament.
“There are so many laws in Victoria which just don’t do what Victorians expect them to do. Like the Security of Payments Act, which provides little protection to subcontractors who aren’t being paid, with no repercussions to those who employ them. This is an area where we’ve got to look at legislation and look at what this is all about, and it’s an example where balance of power wasn’t at play.”
Western Victoria
Catriona Thoolen – farmer and small business owner
“I joined the party as soon as I heard of Clive Palmer and had a look at their policies. I’ve been quite a loud supporter of the party before and after the federal election, which I ran in, and so I nominated myself in the state election.
“I don’t really care who forms government, the key is that all we’re running for is the upper house to ensure that promises aren’t made and then scrapped the moment a party is elected.
“I’m in regional Victoria and my concern is 25% of Victorians live regional, yet just 4% of infrastructure money is spent in regional areas. Victoria’s main exports are grain, wool and dairy, and we’re punching above our weight providing for the economy. We are not recognised or respected for that.
“As farmers we’re underfunded for education, health and hospitals and specialists. I live in a marginal electorate [Rippon], but it’s only been marginal since the boundary redistribution so we have candidates here every day of the week. When this area was not considered marginal, nobody came to see us.
“I had a free-range egg farm, however after drought then a flood and then a bushfire, last year we had to cut back to just breeders. We were set up for drought and had chooks, layers, out by the creek in the paddock. When the creek flooded it carried away hundreds of chooks.
“People who live in cities don’t really understand what we do and what we produce, and I’m very supportive of adding value to our exports by processing before exporting.”
Eastern Metropolitan
Milton Wilde – small business operator
“I’m sick and tired of the way consecutive state governments have mismanaged the state. Realistically, there are a number of issues of concern to Victorians – the cost of living, health, I could rattle off a dozen. But essentially, what our party is concerned about is the integrity of government and being in a position where all legislation that comes through is reviewed and common-sense solutions are considered.
“I’m also concerned about the red tape and bureaucracy small business owners face. So many governments and semi-government departments put money into overseas business while very little consideration is given to small business in Victoria.
“I’ve been a party member since before the federal election. The key interest Clive has is to change and fix things. He’s a very genuine, down-to-earth guy whose heart is in the right place. He’s a bit quirky, but we all have our quirks.
“I’m sick and tired of having only two choices, Liberal and Labor, and while my background has always been Liberal I think there has been too much brushed under the mat by them. Neither party have been open about anything and neither really listen to their constituents. They’re career politicians with no life experience and that’s the big issue. We want to find out what people want.
“I’m for the East West Link – I live in the eastern suburbs and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sick and tired of the traffic. But the way the Liberals have handled the project has been appalling, and the way Labor has responded has been atrocious.”
Southern Metropolitan
Dwayne Singleton – town planner
“I nominated myself three months ago but I joined the party before the federal election last year. I’ve had a longheld belief that a third force in politics was needed, back from the days when I handed out how-to-vote cards when I was eight with my dad, for the Democrats.
“I was pretty much a swinging voter though and this is the first party I have joined. I ran in council elections in 2012 and got a taste of politics and enjoyed it, and then Palmer came along with some good ideas.
“I work in town planning, which is generally controlled by state government legislation and regulations, and I’ve worked for council, the private sector and local residents on planning issues and disputes.
“So I have a well-rounded appreciation of the industry and have been involved in it for 25 years, and given the state is so influential in that area I thought it was time for me to put my hand up and do something about the waste I see from all sides.
“I see both major parties as equally opportunistic at election time, focusing on marginal seats. But they should be working on programs in the best interest of the state and a pre-election scramble is not in the best interest of Victorians.”
Western Metropolitan
Trevor Dance – fuel company operations manager
“I was approached by the Palmer Uniter party in the early days of this election campaign and I had a great discussion with them. I looked at their philosophies and I was a bit concerned by Clive being involved in mining, but his environmental credentials are strong.
“I don’t know how he heard about me or why he approached me. I presume he did a Google search. But he wanted people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, not born-and-bred politicians, and that’s really important. He’s given a lot of us opportunities, by allowing us to get into politics.
“My priority at the moment is making sure all of the green wedges around Melbourne are kept, because Liberal and Labor governments keep wanting to tinker with them. But we need to maintain our open, green spaces.
