Country Minded Candidate

PETE Mailler, a farmer, grazier and the founder of Country Minded will be running in the upcoming election for the seat of New England.

Mr Mailler was chairman of the national grains representative organisation and said he became disillusioned with the current political status quo.

“I spent a few years wearing out the carpet in Parliament House representing the grain industry and I guess that experience highlighted to me how broken the political system is and when you walk into a meeting with a senior politician and they blatantly ask ‘what votes are in this for me?’ it becomes not about what is right and what needs to be done it’s just about them,” said Mr Mailler.

Pete Mailler founder of the Country Minded party will be running for the seat of New England.

“Marginal seats get all of the political attention and we need rural seats to be marginal to get the attention they deserve,” he said.

“If you vote to maintain a majority your vote is wasted because there is no competition and you’ll be taken for granted,” he said.

“We’ve set about creating competition with a safe alternative, we are not spoilers, we want country seats to get the attention they need.

“It would be a travesty if people think this is a sympathy exercise for a career politician whose fallen foul of the constitution.

“This is actually an opportunity for the people of New England to exercise some profound political influence because they are actually determining the single seat majority of the Parliament and if you want a better outcome for New England then you need to challenge that single seat majority and leverage for all it is worth,” Pete Mailler said.

Mr Mailler said he encourages people to use the preferential system to send a strong message to the major parties.

“My advice to people is, put your preference for the major party you prefer second last,” he said.

“If you put a major party first your preferences won’t count for anything because they are just consumed, the best way to make a difference is to put the majors last and that’s where it will flow to,” Pete Mailler said.

Related story: David Mailler – Country Minded Candidate