The Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) NSW lead Senate candidate stopped in Goulburn to participate in the recent Politics in the Pub.

The team brings a new dynamic to Australian politics, he said.

“We’re not about left and right,” he said.

“We think that left and right ideologies are a hundred-year-old ideologies that come from a different time.

“We believe in looking at every issue on its merits and making decisions based upon what is the right solution for the country. That can come from an idea from the left or the right.”

Mr Dalgliesh said this approach resonated with voters, particularly youth, who were disillusioned by traditional politics.

The NXT are fielding two Senate candidates in all states, and four in South Australia. Lower House candidates are running in all South Australian seats, and NSW, VIC and QLD.

“Younger voters look at left and right and ask the question ‘what does it mean’, because they haven’t come from a history where you are either a blue collar worker or you are one of the rich people… that’s not the world we live in today so I don’t think it’s relevant to think in those terms.”

He said the NXT was pursuing three main campaigns in the 2016 campaign. The first - ‘Australian Made Australian Jobs’.

“This is not just about country of origin labelling, it’s not just about xenophobia, it’s about a lot of policies that point toward rebuilding a new economy for Australia” he said.

“We are sitting at the end of 25 years of lucky times. We had a mining boom and great reforms in the ‘90s and ‘80s but that’s all coming to an end… and we need to change our politics to be able to deal with it.”

The second is based on “transparency and accountability”, and calls for a Royal Commission into Corruption in all organisations, and a Federal ICAC to focus on “unions, governments and corporates”.

The final campaigning issue is predatory gambling, one that Mr Dalgliesh said was “not very popular” in Australian politics.

“Predatory Gambling does harm to people, to families, to children. We’re not against gambling but what we want to do is regulate poker machines… to minimise the harm they cause.”

He said the Government needed to focus on a world-class NBN, a very fast train up and down the eastern side of Australia and a freight corridor connecting the coast to country, to promote regional growth.

Exploring strategies to keep young Australians in regional areas, rather than cities for post-university jobs, was another key issue.

He appealed to voters to consider the benefits of a strong cross-bench when voting. 

SENATE candidate for Country Labor, Vivien Thomson, is ready to shake things up.

The full time farmer, based in Muttama, said the National Party did not have a “monopoly” on country issues and hoped to bring a strong rural voice to her Labor peers.

“Our voice in the country electorates are getting bigger and bigger, and our voices are getting more and more diluted,” she said.

“Our regional cities are so critical because, for me, they support all of our smaller communities. My town only has 12 or 13 houses in it, we have no industries so we are dependent on bigger towns like Gundagai and Cootamundra.

“When I look at the future of our regional cities, it’s absolutely important because it’s like a big web.”

She said diversity was the key to sustaining regional communities, and ensuring capacity to grow. She listed the NBN as a “critical component”.

“I strongly and firmly beileve that diversity is one of our biggest strengths in Australia and the more diversity I think we bring to communities and our environments, the stronger we are going to be,” she said.

“I quite often talk about agriculture being the backbone of our rural areas, but it’s our communities that actually make up the meat, and it’s what binds us all together.”