Flinders candidates have their say before voters head to the polls this Saturday.
Candidates are listed in ballot paper order.
Jason Smart
Trumpet of Patriots
My message for the voters of Flinders is simple. Don’t vote for me.
I ask that you vote for Mike Brown, One Nation.
I originally agreed to run for Trumpet of Patriots but have stepped away because of the ToP’s original preference of Teal candidate Ben Smith, Labor and Greens in this election – against what Palmer led me to believe. I had amassed support from constituents based on Ben Smith, Labor and the Greens being put last on my how-to-vote card. Consequently, I fielded hundreds of calls and messages from supporters who were appalled. I made it quite clear that I had no say in the matter and that I would seek remedy. My correspondence with the ToP administrators was met with a response that was generic, condescending and basically ignored.
Actions speak louder than words and it was only after my press release regarding my inability/apprehension going forward with the ToP, pressed upon them how serious I was about the situation they put me in. Subsequently, ToP preferencing was changed with One Nation put second, followed by a Teal, Labor, the Greens candidate before a Liberal representative, so a vote for ToP is still against my belief that a conservative government is the best outcome for our nation.
We as a people have been misrepresented by the current Labor government. Many families are struggling to pay bills and put food on the table and their desperation seems to go unnoticed. A vote for the ToP in Flinders is a preference for Teals/Labor, and I won’t stand for it! Don’t vote for me, instead vote for Mike Brown from One Nation, and follow his how-to-vote card – that is the best chance we have of getting out of this mess that The Left has put us all in.
Ben Smith
Independent
I’ll never forget one young mum who came into the Mornington Community Support Centre last year. She was working two jobs – but still sometimes had to choose between rent or feeding her family. She’d done everything “right” but was falling through the cracks.
I never planned on going into politics. But every day someone would come in with a story like this. Yet, when I tried to reach out to our elected representatives to let them know how people were struggling, I was met mostly with platitudes. The major parties have shown themselves incapable of dealing with the big issues impacting us all.
Here on the peninsula we have so much worth protecting but the reality is we’re being left behind. Four decades as a safe seat has left us in a funding black hole. Our hospital is falling apart. Our roads are crumbling. And our local services are under pressure like never before. If elected, I’ll fight for investment in local healthcare and infrastructure, policies that ease cost-of-living pressures for families and small businesses, and to bring integrity back to politics – because the major parties have shown that they don’t have the appetite to deliver the reforms we desperately need.
The next federal parliament is likely to be a minority government. Our latest polling shows we can win this seat. No one’s done that before. Your vote has never mattered more. So the question is: Do you want an independent who will fight for you? Or a backbencher bound by party lines and corporate interests? As an independent, I’ll only ever answer to this community — to you. I’ll listen to what you need and fight for you in Canberra. This is our chance. After decades of being taken for granted, it’s our turn to get the representation we deserve.
Zoe McKenzie
Liberal
Prior to election, I ran my own business building opportunities for Australian exporters and was a board director for the Committee for the Mornington Peninsula, NBN Board and Australia Council for the Arts. Earlier, I practised as an IR lawyer. This experience underpins my understanding of the challenges facing our small and family businesses. I am determined to build the peninsula’s thriving economy, protect our lived environment and ensure we get our fair share.
In 2023, the Albanese government cut over $300m from budgeted infrastructure for the peninsula: roads, public transport, even the National Centre for Coasts and Climate were severed. I fought and saved road safety improvements on the Nepean Highway, the site of countless accidents, and worked with universities to keep the National Centre for Coasts and Climate alive.
I work daily with Nepean and Mornington MPs Sam Groth and Chris Crewther to address key issues of local crime, tighten bail laws and improve community safety. Working together we will secure funding for critical projects like the Rosebud Hospital – which only the Liberal Party has committed to rebuild.
The Coalition has a proud record of investment here, and I opened the Mornington Comprehensive Cancer Centre and Alexandra Park Pavilion, the Rosebud Youth Hub and the Endeavour Fern Gully Education Centre – all funded by the Coalition. I have fought for funding for our sporting facilities, mental health services and telecommunications improvements.
My commitments bind the Coalition to providing up to $900m to modernise the Frankston Baxter rail corridor; $5m for the Mornington to Moorooduc Trail, $5m to rebuild the Somerville Recreation Reserve, $5m to create a Veterans Wellness Centre and $2m towards improving mobile reception in Somerville – to name a few.
I ask for your support to keep fighting for Flinders.
Mike Brown
One Nation
I am calling on voters to reject the Climate 200-backed “Teal” campaign and restore honesty and common sense to Canberra. As a father of seven, grandfather of nine, and long-time Mornington Peninsula local, I am a self-funded candidate — not backed by Climate 200, corporate donors or Simon Holmes à Court’s money.
I believe the One Nation Pauline Hanson team is the only real force keeping the buggers honest in Canberra. I welcome the support of former candidate Jason Smart, who recently resigned from the Trumpet of Patriots after Clive Palmer overruled him and referenced the Teals against his wishes. Mr Smart is now assisting the One Nation campaign to stop the Greens, Labor and Teals from gaining control of Flinders.
This election isn’t about left or right — it’s about right and wrong. Labor and the Greens have barely lifted a finger in Flinders because Climate 200 and their Teal candidate Ben Smith are doing the heavy lifting. It’s time to wake up and push back.
My campaign priorities include:
- A balanced energy future using coal, gas, nuclear, solar and hydro
- Federal support for Rosebud Hospital upgrades and local CFA branches
- Stronger youth crime laws and tougher bail conditions
- Fixing local roads and supporting small family-run businesses
- Ending woke division — one flag, one people, one nation under God
One Nation preferences are structured to strengthen the conservative vote — not split it.
A Vote 1 for One Nation is the strongest message you can send to Canberra. I’m not here for a political career — I’m here to fight for the country I love and the community I live in.
Joseph Toscano
Independent
Watching television, tears welled up in my eyes when I saw an advertisement asking viewers to sponsor an Australian child to access a decent public education. What is happening in Australia? How can 27 million people living on a resource rich continent fail so many of its children?
I was born in Brisbane in 1951, the son of Italian sharecroppers. I am a father, stepfather, grandfather, widower. For the past fifty years I have been a doctor, community radio broadcaster and activist. Residents, including Denise Hassett of the 1993 Flinders Labor candidate, asked me to provide electors with real choices. I’ve made mistakes and have regrets. My journey helps me gain the insights, experience, determination and strength to represent you.
Look in your letterbox for my flyer. Access Facebook @Toscano4Flinders to examine polices that will ensure Australians will never again have to rely on the crumbs brushed off the corporate table to survive. I am tired of looking into young people’s eyes knowing my generations addiction to the almighty dollar has destroyed their future. I’m disturbed about the lack of significant action on climate change. Residents in this electorate will be some of the first Australians to feel the effects of the climate emergency as sea levels rise.
The experts tell me I have “a snowball’s chance in hell of being elected.” They think I’m a 21st century Don Quixote tilting at virtual platforms. I’ve put my money where my mouth is and financed my own campaign. I owe nothing to political parties or secular or religious groups. Help me do a Bradbury. Put a cat among the Parliamentary pigeons and Vote 1 Joseph Toscano. I’m not allocating preferences – your vote, you decide your preferences.
Sarah Race
Labor
I love the peninsula and chose to raise my family here. Our peninsula needs a strong voice that is part of the government to deliver for Flinders. We’ve been taken for granted by the Liberals for 40 years.
I am a strong community advocate. I’ve rolled up my sleeves and delivered results for our community for years: on council, the kinder committee and at the footy club. In the biggest ever Labor campaign for Flinders I’ve run a true grassroots campaign focused on everyday people, knocking on 10,000 doors to engage directly with our community.
I’ve also worked to secure tens of millions for our peninsula including:
- an Urgent Care Clinic in Somerville
- crisis accommodation for women experiencing domestic and family violence
- three critical local sports facility upgrades in Rye, Somerville and Hastings
- a major upgrade to Western Port Highway
This is only the beginning of what better representation can offer our area. At this election the choice is clear. Keep building Australia’s future with Labor, and with me as part of that team. Or Peter Dutton’s cuts. In just three years Labor has halved inflation, got wages growing, and interest rates are reducing.
Now Labor is building on those foundations by:
- strengthening Medicare and making more GP visits free
- providing lasting cost of living relief with fairer tax cuts and a $1000 instant tax deduction for all workers
- making free TAFE permanent to boost Australia’s workforce. Investing in every stage of education with a three-day childcare guarantee, fully funding public schools, and cutting HECS debts by 20%.
I ask for your vote so that I can secure these benefits for our community and represent the peninsula as your member in a Labor government.
Adam Frogley
Greens
The Greens’ plan is clear. Make big corporations pay their fair share of tax to fund world-class public services working for people, not profit, and genuinely tackle the housing crisis, but also take action on climate, “the greatest moral challenge of our time”.
Other candidates take huge donations from big corporations and billionaires. We don’t. Have you noticed on the peninsula the Greens have not had the exposure that the wealthier, billionaire backed candidates have? I will side with everyday people over big corporations, always.
Greens MP’s and Senators are like terriers, nipping at the heels of the government, arguing for climate action, with no new coal or gas mines, free GP visits, dental on medicare and unlimited mental health services, publicly owned affordable social housing and rent freezes.
The big four banks made $44.6b profit last year. We will pressure government to build good quality homes, sold and rented at a price you can afford, with big banks to offer discount mortgages to all homeowners, including first homebuyers and owner-occupiers. We must stop the $180b in tax handouts to wealthy property investors.
We argue for free education, with fully funded public schooling, $800 per child back-to-school each year, and publicly owned and operated, safe, free child-care for all. Cancelling all student debt as well.
The Independent Parliamentary Budget Office fully costed this plan.
Closing the gap for our First Nations people is urgent. A young First Nations’ man will have more chance of going to prison than university. This weighs heavily on me and motivates me to work in this space and stand as a Greens candidate to pressure for reforms which change this statistic.
I will work assiduously to Keep Dutton out and make Labor act.
First published in the Mornington News – 29 April 2025
