Independent perspective
a real representative
House of Representitives
Federal election 2025
Fairfax Electorate
Paul for Fairfax 2025
POLICIES ARE FOR PARTIES...
IDEAS ARE FOR INDEPENDENTS
"I think we can all safely say we are sick of the banal policies of Australia's major political parties. Each election cycle dredges up more of the same unimaginative promises which we know will never be kept, and the same glib talking points from politicians beholden to the party line and out of touch with the hopes and dreams of ordinary Australians."
DEFENCE
DEFENCE
Australia has never really grown up and taken responsibility for its own security. Up until the Second World War, we tacitly relied upon Great Britain for our protection, and when the 'mother country' abandoned us in our darkest hour we turned immediately to the United States for the same kind of succour. Despite being a modern, successful and wealthy nation, our timidity - relying on others for our protection - has continued through to the present day.
I believe it is time for this to end...
Relying upon others for our defence will always compromise our sovereignty and independence of action in foreign affairs, and this cannot be allowed to continue.
Defence self-reliance for Australia is achievable, and I believe it should be a national priority.
To get there, we must begin with a wholesale shift in our collective national mindset.
...We must learn to back ourselves!
We have to do better at recruiting and retaining the right people for the Australian Defence Force. The best way we can achieve this is by restoring our service men and women's pride in themselves and their service, but we also need to restore their confidence in the government...and most of all - we've got to give them back an Australia worth fighting for!
We need to spend more on defence, but also more carefully. We cannot continue to waste huge amounts of tax payer money on bad equipment or bad deals.
We need to remain in control of all our defence technology or again - we will continue to compromise our sovereignty.
Finally, all defence policy is pointless unless we address the national emergency of our critical lack of fuel security. We need to boost our on-shore fuel reserves, and urgently restore our lost on-shore refining capability, rather than relying on dangerous shipping lanes and foreign ships to bring us our fuel. Unless we address this issue, which for the life of me, I don't know why it's not a national emergency...there really is no point to any other defence policy. It doesn't matter how many Abrams tanks or F35 fight jets you have, if after the first few weeks of a conflict, they all run out of fuel!
This last point is a big issue...probably the biggest one Australian's don't know about!
...so please start asking some questions.