TOM Harris describes himself as a man who doesn't really want to enter politics, but is running for a Senate seat at this year's election with Katter's Australian Party (KAP), led by the candid Bob Katter.
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A grazier who grew up on a family farm near Orange, Mr. Harris has made a life as a cattle farmer while raising his two children at a property in Molong.
Now the farmer is campaigning for a senate seat, believing the lack of representation in government for people who live in rural areas has compelled him to do so.
Mr. Harris said he doesn't have a lot of love for Canberra currently, but according to him, “you can only whinge for so long if you don't stand up and put forward your ideas.”
Pushing a prohibition on foreign ownership of state assets and protecting Australian jobs as main issues of concern, Mr. Harris said he chose to run with KAP because he doesn't believe the Nationals “stand up for regional Australia.”
“The trouble the dairy industry is having at the moment, basically the Nationals put that deregulation through,” he said.
“They're selling out to a free trade ideology, which doesn't really serve our national interest.”
Mr. Harris wants to do all he can to protect Australian jobs and while his party is not anti-immigration, he'd like to see 457 visas abolished completely.
He said the large amount of people coming to Australia on the visa can displace school-leavers and put job-seekers on welfare.
“At the moment, I think welfare makes up 25 per cent of the total government budget, and they're expecting it to increase to 50 per cent by 2025,” he said, “if you just cut 457 visas out ... that would probably take a percentage point off unemployment.”
He believes cutting company tax rates is not the solution to creating jobs, which is one of the current government's key policies from its latest Budget.
“You've got all these companies who aren't paying their tax anyway, so what's the point?”
The grazier believes he can bring a “common-sense, down to earth approach” to politics, having not spent his life working his way up through the political ranks but rather taking real-world experience with him to government.
“I feel like I've been forced into it,” he said, “with either side of politics … nothing seems to change.”
“It's about trying to get a fair go for people, not just the top end of town.”
