Lawrence a serious contender

Craig Lawrence is not just making up the numbers on the Brand voting card.

The Palmer United Party Brand candidate says he is not interested in talking preferences — instead, he is talking up his chances of winning the seat.

Mr Lawrence said his motivation for putting his hand up as a candidate for the party was after years of frustration with the major parties and receiving lip service he described as “pollie waffle”.

“When I watched Clive’s interview on Lateline, where he said his wife said ‘stop complaining about politicians and do something about it’, I thought that’s exactly the position I’m in,” he said.

He said instead of worrying about where his preferences would go, he was hoping to pick up preferences from the two major parties.

“I’m here to break the necks of the Liberal and Labor stranglehold of politics nationally,” he said.

On policy, he said his party was committed to abolishing the carbon tax and cutting personal income tax by 15 per cent to ease the cost of living pressure on families.

“For the average wage earner it puts $2500 back in their pocket,” he said.

“For those buying their own home — the first $10,000 of their interest every year will be tax deductable.”