Discontent over banks' behaviour prompted Tanya Hargraves to take the plunge into politics.
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The Boorowa resident is standing for Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party in Hume at the May 18 federal election.
Ms Hargraves previously told media she took on a major bank and won after losing her former Yass district farm, Canberra business and commercial properties. She did not speak before the recent Banking Royal Commission but said the issue was close to her heart.
"It was a terrible experience and a lot of victims, particularly farmers, were not heard in the Royal Commission," she said.
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Ms Hargraves has supported Mr Anning for the past 18 months as a volunteer. When he recently formed his own party, she decided to run as a candidate.
"He supported bank victims and giving them a voice when the Royal Commission wasn't," she said.
"We lobbied hard to have it extended."
The candidate moved to Boorowa three months ago. Before that, she lived at Yass for eight to nine years. Ms Hargraves also ran a graphic design, publishing and printing business in Canberra for 25 years.
The Hume contest is her first political foray.
Asked whether she supported Mr Anning's recent statements linking the Christchurch mosque attacks to immigration, Ms Hargraves said the mainstream media "blew the comments out of proportion."
"I agree with him on immigration and that we don't have the infrastructure to support more," she told The Post.
In a similar vein she has argued the human contribution to climate change is over-estimated. Ms Hargarves told Monday's Politics in the Pub that her party supported renewable energy but did not believe in subsidies for the sector. She said if all renewable energy and climate targets were removed, "power prices would be 40 per cent lower than their current level. Ms Hargraves lamented that due to these target, Australia could not have 100pc reliance on coal.
She and her party have also argued for a not-for-profit sovereign bank to fund infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and dams, at the same time "rejuvenating" agriculture through natural farming and ensuring the water "didn't run out to sea."
Ms Hargraves believed the Murray Basin plan had been "hijacked" by Green ideology and generally, that farmers had lost too many property and water rights.
"We (also) believe in traditional family values," she said.
"Families are the core of society and they should come first."
Individual freedoms, including on speech, universal home ownership and removal of the means test for aged pensioners are also key policies.
She argued a national sovereign bank was the solution to creating more affordable homes in the electorate. A recent Anglicare report revealed there were very few affordable homes available for people on government benefits. Schemes to rent and buy-in to a property would also assist, she said.
Ms Hargraves said she was yet to fully decide preferences but Liberal would be placed second on her how to vote card, while Labor and The Greens would come last.
"The Liberal ideology is more aligned to ours. Our focus is on agriculture," she said.
Ms Hargraves told The Post that voter disaffection with the major parties could work in minor parties' favour, including Fraser Anning's.
"I've talked to many Goulburn people and they say they're not voting Labor or Liberal. I think this election will be different to may others...People are fed up," she said.
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