AUSTRALIAN and christian values, those are the platforms independent Wayne Bell is running on as he makes a late play to be elected into the Senate.
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A local from Branxton in the Hunter Valley, Mr Bell believes current politicians aren't doing enough to represent regular people and somebody needs to step up to hold them to account.
The 63-year-old's story at motivation behind nominating himself is an interesting one, as he said it was actually the result of an injury he suffered last year.
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After breaking his ankle, Mr Bell was forced to take time off work and was largely restrained to the couch, where he regularly watched the television and grew sick of the behaviour of the politicians he saw on it.
"I was sitting there thinking 'what is happening, what is going on with our representatives? They don't care about anybody except them'... and there's nothing I can do except stand up and be counted," he said.
While his political experience is slim, the parliamentary hopeful is confident he could make a positive impact for farmers and the agriculture industry, who he claims are being forgotten about despite approximately $4.2 billion being spent on foreign aid.
He intends to do this by pushing for a mandatory referendum if the government is looking to sell off any form of land to overseas businesses or agencies.
A criticism that is often launched at independents is that they lack policies and ideas, often using the tired line 'I'll speak to my electorate and see what they want once I have the platform to', but Mr Bell has attempted to break free of that clique by outlining his beliefs already.
In a manifesto of sorts, he stated wealth needs to be more equally distributed to help the likes of child care workers, nurses, pensioners, health care professionals, struggling people or families and the aforementioned farmers.
He has strong views on immigration, but is not opposed to people of any race or religion entering the country so long as they make an effort to adopt Australian values.
"The type of immigrants Australia needs is like our original 'new Australians' after the war like the British, Italians, Greeks, Chinese, Poles, and others who came to this country wanting a better life," he said.
"They received very little money from us, they assimilated, worked very hard, raised their families to be good people and became good citizens working to better Australia.
"These people deserved to enjoy the 'bounty' Australia had to offer them."
Climate change is another topic of huge interest to Mr Bell, who is of the opinion pollution needs to be controlled not just paid for, and wants to see large companies forced into reducing their emissions.
He is also a fan of renewable energy and would like to see funds channelled from other areas into assisting the approximately 16 million homes around the nation with fitting solar, wind or battery power.
He admitted to yearning for the old days and being a strong believer in Christian values, and said the erosion of those cultures would be devastating for the nation.
"I'm an Aussie, I'm an old Aussie, I look at the old ways and how I was brought up, I look at the freedoms we had and I don't see that anymore, they're taking our freedoms off us," he said.
"I don't care if you're a Christian or not, that's up to you but I think we need to hold onto some of those beliefs for the sake of the country."
Some of his other key focuses would be increasing the pension, removing all parliamentary perks once politicians are retired, ensuring an end to water privatisation and a 'more fair and equal' family court, where both parents or carers would be made to pay equal costs for a child's upbringing regardless of income.
When asked why he felt it was best to run as an independent, Mr Bell said he didn't feel any of the parties were a right fit for him.
"One Nation are doing stupid things going over to America, Senator Anning I don't mind but he got in on 19 votes, and if you're going to represent somebody like that then you're starting behind the eight ball because you've already got the hate factor," he stated.
The Hunter local also claimed he has received many words of encouragement from people in his area, who are hopeful an independent can make the changes they desire.
He acknowledges it will be difficult to get the votes required but said he's happy to fight for everyday Australians and hope they support because of it come May 18.
