Andrew Wilkie - Independent Candidate for Denison

Welcome

I’m an Independent candidate for the Hobart/Glenorchy electorate of Denison at the forthcoming Federal election. I am a former Army lieutenant colonel and well known campaigner for truth in politics.

I’m standing for election as part of my ongoing campaign for better government. The community is rightfully appalled by government dishonesty, reckless policies and self-interested politicians. I’ve been working to rectify this for much of the seven years since I was the only intelligence official in Australia, the UK and US to question the Iraq war publicly before Australia joined the invasion in 2003.

I’m fighting for the people of Denison in particular because for too long we’ve been denied our fair share of Federal money on account of the electorate being regarded as a safe Labor Party seat. As an Independent I’ll focus on the public interest, not party interests, and work with whoever wins the next Federal election to ensure more money is directed our way - starting with the money to rebuild or replace the Royal Hobart Hospital. I’ll also be a local Member who cares about the local community and is always available to help people in need.

I believe I have the skills, experience and views to represent the community effectively - please give me your number one vote at the Federal election. Feel free to contact me.

The Big Issues

Tertiary education

Tertiary institutions must be better funded to wind back the increasing reliance on fee paying students and commercial sponsorship of research. Youth Allowance should be increased to a more realistic level and better indexed to keep pace with inflation, student representative organisations must be revitalised and measures put in place to better deliver affordable student accommodation.

Education

Schools must be adequately funded according to need and not according to whether or not they are publicly or privately operated. Teachers must be trained and employed in such numbers to provide an effective learning environment for all students, as well as reasonable lesson preparation time, rest and professional development for the teachers themselves.

Internet filtering

The proposed internet filtering is inconsistent with the nature of the World Wide Web and probably unachievable technically in an open society like ours. It should not be allowed to proceed. Web users should instead be protected by commercially available filter software, as well as effective law enforcement efforts against those who would seek to misuse the web.