INDEPENDENT candidate for Flinders, Ben Smith, has put small business front and centre in the election campaign, launching his policy platform over the weekend as a new poll shows the seat is now on a knife-edge.
Speaking while visiting several local businesses and markets across the peninsula, Smith said it’s time to stop treating the region like an inner-city suburb and start supporting the local employers who actually drive our economy.
“As a small business owner in Flinders for over a decade, I understand the unique challenges peninsula businesses face,” Smith said. “My wife and I started our retail store with a market stall, and we’ve weathered seasonal fluctuations, rising costs, and mountains of compliance.”
“The peninsula is powered by small businesses – from tradies and tourism operators to shopkeepers and cafés,” Ben said. “But instead of getting a fair go, we’re being punished with tax rates and red tape designed for the big end of town.” Peninsula businesses pay 50% more in payroll tax than their counterparts just over the regional boundary – a bureaucratic line that costs local operators thousands each year and stifles new business growth.
“Our businesses are constantly overlooked because we’re lumped in with Melbourne, even though we face very different challenges. Seasonal trade, housing shortages for workers, and soaring costs are making it harder than ever to survive, let alone thrive,” said Smith.
Smith said the major parties had decades to fix these inequities but have delivered nothing but excuses. If elected, Smith said he will work with all levels of government to fight for:
- Meaningful tax relief for genuine small enterprises by ensuring businesses in our areas can access appropriate regional concessions
- Expanded housing options for essential workers to ensure businesses have the staff they need, especially during peak seasons
- Simplified compliance requirements that don’t require expensive consultants to navigate.
This announcement comes alongside fresh polling from the Whistleblower Justice Foundation showing the race in Flinders is now neck and neck, with Ben Smith and Zoe McKenzie at 51% to 49% respectively, two-candidate-preferred. “This election is going to go down to the wire – and if small business owners want a representative who’s lived it, and gets it, I’m ready to fight for them,” Smith said.
Liberal candidate Zoe McKenzie has announced two initiatives this week that an elected Dutton government would undertake. The first is securing a commitment of $260,000 to restore the Birdrock Beach stairs at Mt Martha. Birdrock Beach stairs were closed to the public at the beginning of December 2022 after a severe storm and associated king tide caused the collapse of the bottom three sections of the stairway (Beach access stairs closed for safety, The News 17/1/23).
“We live in the most beautiful part of Australia, and our coastal lifestyle is something that we don’t take for granted. We should be able to access our amazing coastline, but in a way that is safe for the community which also preserves the natural environment,” said McKenzie. “This funding will restore safe access to the beach, while still protecting our precious coastline.”
Further south, McKenzie has secured a commitment that an elected Dutton government would provide $470,000 to construct new female change rooms at David MacFarlan Reserve. McKenzie said she has secured this commitment to ensure that girls have every opportunity to participate in their sporting community in Sorrento. “I’ve had strong feedback from the Sorrento Sharks Football Netball Club and from the wider community about the need for new female change rooms and amenities at the David MacFarlan Reserve,” McKenzie said. “This commitment is part of the Liberals’ plan to strengthen our local communities and to get Australia back on track.”
Sarah Race told The News that protecting our lifestyle and environment is a priority for her Labor candidature for Flinders. “We chose to raise our family here because we love our beachside lifestyle and getting out on the water,” said Race. “Labor will continue to tackle the cost of living and take real climate action by making batteries cheaper, slashing energy bills for households and small businesses.
“Batteries could save a household with existing rooftop solar up to $1100, and up to $2300 a year for households installing a new solar and a battery system. Best of all, batteries reduce peak demand on the electricity grid and lower power bills for everyone. “Tens of thousands of homes on the peninsula already have a rooftop solar installation.”
Race said Labor’s policy is in stark contrast to the Liberals who she claims will cut critical services to pay for their $600b nuclear plan, driving up household energy bills by up to $1200. “Australia doesn’t have the time to risk nuclear – the slowest and most expensive form of energy – with 90% of Australia’s coal-fired power plants forecast to close by 2035. “Renewables are the cheapest form of energy and will bring electricity prices down,” said Race. “The choice is clear. Labor’s real action on climate and immediate help with the cost of living, or Peter Dutton’s cuts to pay for his $600b nuclear plan.”
The Greens Adam Frogley has focussed on his party’s plan to make billionaires pay their “fair share” of tax. “Big companies, all ripping Australians off, are topping the charts for donations to Labor and the LNP and the political system is serving their interests,” said Frogley. “They pay no tax, while families are sleeping in their cars or in tents, while sixty per cent of Australians put off seeing the dentist, due to cost and while our next generation is saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt.
Frogley believes more Greens are needed in parliament to stop the big corporations and billionaires “buying our democracy”. “The Greens is a grassroots movement, that does not take donations from big corporations and so is not beholden to them to craft policy. “We will not waver from our core business: grassroots democracy, ecological sustainability, social justice and peace and non-violence.”
In February the Greens announced a plan to tax Australia’s 150 billionaires to “fund services for everyone”. “The Greens plan is to make billionaires pay their fair share of tax so all Australians can have their fair share of life’s essentials.”
Joseph Toscano is a medical practitioner who has decided to run as an independent in Flinders to widen the choices the candidates have. “It is about giving people choices,” said Toscano. “I have a respect for every candidate on that election paper. They’ve had the courage to put their heads above the parapet, but I have no respect for many of their policies. “We should have a society here where everyone enjoys the common wealth. “The peninsula is an extraordinary, lovely place to live and it is a tragedy that people find it difficult to live down there with all the problems they face.”
Mike Brown is a retired real estate agency and vendor’s advocate running as the candidate for One Nation and said he is “urging voters to demand transparency and integrity from all candidates”. “Personally, I have nothing against any candidate left or right leaning,” said Brown. “I am fighting for Australia’s identity and for one flag! Voters are sadly blinded to the Labor/Greens plan to use the Teals in Canberra to control and influence government and further their unaffordable ‘green only’ energy scheme and omni gender agenda!”
Construction manager Jason Smart nominated to run as the Trumpet of Patriots candidate for the electorate of Flinders, before a head office imposed preference deal derailed his candidacy.
Smart told The News “I decided to run because I can see where the economy is heading, and we need to insulate ourselves from it”. “I’ve had a how-to-vote card imposed upon me by Clive Palmer that is inconsistent with my beliefs, and so I will instead be calling for voters to put me last, and I’ll be devoting my efforts to assist Mike Brown with his campaign”.
First published in the Mornington News – 22 April 2025
