New political party eyes Sydney
Image: Dr Patricia Petersen
A new, left-of-centre political party is eyeing Sydney, with the aim of giving voters a credible alternative to the political status quo.
The Australian Independents, headed by Ipswich-based academic and political activist Dr Patricia Petersen, has endorsed two inner city candidates to run for the Senate, and is looking to recruit more local candidates for both houses of parliament.
The party, which has already established a significant profile in its home state of Queensland, has exclusively revealed its southern expansion plans to City News, announcing its first two local candidates.
Dr Stephen Hirst, the older brother of Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst, and Mr Ray Palmer, a local schoolteacher and classical musician, will run for the senate in the September 14 Federal election.
Stanmore-based Dr Hirst, who is a musician, mathematician and carer, said he would campaign on four main issues: reform for Australia’s tertiary education system, better mental health services, more frequent and cheaper public transport, and a ban on coal seam gas (CSG) mining.
Dr Hirst, a former tutor in mathematics at the University of Sydney, said he was especially concerned about tertiary education.
“Universities have become little more than factories churning out fee-paying students,” said Dr Hirst, who holds a PhD in computer science.
“They’re now more about accreditation than education.”
In 2006, he reported the University of Sydney to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), for allegedly pressuring him to cover up plagiarism by several students.
The university believed it was “too much work” to prove and asked him to mark assignments as though plagiarism had not occurred, Dr Hirst claimed. ICAC did not proceed with his complaint.
Dr Hirst said tertiary funding was now so poor “if it wasn’t for [full-fee paying] overseas students, our universities would be forced to close down”.
Leichhardt-based Mr Palmer was unavailable for comment by deadline, however Dr Petersen said his key platforms would include an increase in the number of health professionals, stamping out bullying in schools, and programs to improve literacy and numeracy.
Explaining why she founded the Australian Independents in June last year, Dr Petersen said: “There was a time when political representatives who represented their electorates were at the core of Australian democracy.
“Somehow, that tradition has been lost and we now have politicians with more loyalty to their party or their career, than their electorates.
“Our candidates are required to shelve their egos and personal views, and genuinely represent their electorates.”
She added that all candidates must abstain from personal attacks, and said the party would not accept donations from corporations or unions “under any circumstances”.
Dr Petersen first came to political prominence during the 2004 federal election, when she ran against Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in his seat of Warringah, while he was Federal Minister for Health and Ageing.
Dr Petersen holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Queensland, in addition to a black belt in karate, and was a panelist on Foxtel/Channel Ten talk show, Beauty and the Beast.
