Reef State

04/05/2025

Episode 170
Getting on the Same Page
The road to perdition is paved with both good intentions and malice. At times, unfortunately, there are instances when there is little difference between the outcomes of either, especially when the primary stakeholders have little to no understanding of each other’s aspirations or any broker acting on their behalf is simply seeking gain personal advantage or self-actualization. While colonial Australia was littered with conflicts between cultures, of the scars left, there is none so deep and enduring as those instituted by the pious George Augustus Robinson, the first ‘Protector of Aborigines’ that set this nation on a course of separation for more than a century. Even today the actions of the virtuous do not seem to be improving the lot of those they purport to represent.

Guest
Anthony Dillon
Social Scientist
Anthony is an honorary fellow at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at Australian Catholic University in Sydney. As a social scientist and prominent commentator on Aboriginal affairs, he has had the opportunity to write on Aboriginal topics and mental health, both in academic journals and popular media.

Anthony uses his qualifications and skills to question the orthodoxies and present ideas that are often not popular—something he has been doing for more than two decades. He is most passionate about Aboriginal affairs and believes that political correctness, and in particular, the stifling of free speech, has done and continues to do incalculable damage to Aboriginal people.

Most recently, Anthony acted as a public intellectual to discuss problems on the proposed Indigenous Voice to parliament. He fought passionately against the Voice, because he believed that had the referendum succeeded, there would have been even greater restrictions of what could be said on Aboriginal affairs. He has had several thought-provoking articles published in The Australian, The Conversation, Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and the ABC Drum online.

27/04/2025

Episode 169
Pro Nature, Doesn’t Need to be Anti Human
Those currently controlling the narrative on the natural environment see no place for civilized humans and their technologies within that landscape, with the exception of ‘renewable’ energy generation. It is effectively a Year Zero doctrine. Yes, humans have and some continue to harm the natural environment but we also have the capacity to restore, manage, improve, enjoy and create a mutual benefit for both. Locking up vast tracks of tracts of Cape York to be left to the vagaries of nature is a recipe for the impoverishment of its communities, we must embrace a better solution.

Guest
Dr Daniel Collins – Ecologist
KAP Candidate for Leichhardt

Daniel has an Honours Degree in Environmental Science and a PhD in Forest Science and Land Management. He is the founder of the Coraculture concept and has long believed in the need to make the natural systems of the Earth the foundations of our living and agricultural production systems.

Daniel is adamant that humans have an essential role to play in the management of our deserts, grasslands, forests and waterways to ensure a sustainable, improved and mutually productive natural and agricultural environment.

Daniel has worked the land, built businesses and seen firsthand the opportunities going to waste in Far North Queensland. From Cairns to the Strait, he knows what’s broken and how to fix it. As a qualified ecologist, long experienced in forest science and land management he is no stranger to balancing industry and environment to support both economic growth and environmental sustainability.

Daniel is also the chairman of the African Refugee Council, scientific manager for the Amazon Rainforest Conservancy, and a private investigator for wildlife and environmental issues.

25/04/2025

https://www.normanmillerforleichhardt.com/post/gamechanger-new-state-northern-qld-more-local-decision-making-and-more-representation-in-canberra

Leichhardt Independent candidate Norman Miller said today, “The idea of a state in northern Qld has been on the backburner for a while and I want to reignite the conversation about it.“It’s not some weird idea as the framers of our constitution made room for new states. Chapter VI of the Const...

20/04/2025

Episode 168 – Another Election Another Name
If anything, best defines the diverse and fractured nature of the Australian political landscape, it would have to be the Federal Senate ‘ballot paper’. In simpler times, with one fold you could, with ease slip it into the ballot box. Now you to have to tussle with a near metre wide sheet listing up to 21 political grouping ‘above the line’ and well more than a hundred candidate names ‘below the line’. It is obvious so many of these political groups have no intention to ‘govern for all Australians’ yet they continue to proliferate. While uncompromising one issue groups will never amalgamate, will we ever see some rationalization of the myriad of centre right minor parties?

Guest
Stephen Andrew
Trumpet of Patriots
Candidate for Capricornia

Steve, is the former State Member for Mirani and will contest the seat of Capricornia as the Trumpet of Patriots candidate at the 3rd May Federal Election. He has seven years of Queensland parliamentary experience as the member for the State Electorate of Mirani which transects the Federal Electorate of Capricornia and well knows the people of Central Queensland.

Steve is a fourth-generation local with South Sea Islander heritage. Prior to entering the Queensland Parliament in 2017, he worked as a fi****ms dealer and pest controller.

As of April 2019, Steve was the only One Nation MP in the Queensland Parliament and was dis-endorsed just months prior to the October 2024 Queensland State Election. He contested the Electorate of Mirani as the KAP candidate but lost his seat by 620 votes after One Nation ran a candidate and preferenced the winning Liberal candidate.

Now as a proud representative of Trumpet of Patriots, he will campaign on a platform of limiting government spending, tackling government debt, supporting small and family businesses, and bringing affordable housing back within reach.

14/04/2025

Episode 167
What can Independent Candidates Offer
While the Prime Minister has been out and about for months buying votes and with the Federal election now call the leader of the opposition leader has hit the road with his alternate bag of goodies for the voters. With every giveaway comes a missed opportunity to pay down our inter-generational TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT. With no ability to bestow their constituents with gifts from the public purse, how can independent candidates compete in this era of entitlement. Can the just the commitment to best represent the electorate’s best interests be enough?

Guest
Norman Miller
Author and Artist
Independent Candidate for Leichhardt
Norman is married to Barbara and has lived in Cairns for over 50 years. He is an Aboriginal artist and businessman. He owns and operates, the Munganbana Reef and Rainforest Aboriginal Art Gallery which has endure through the fickle tourist economy of Cairns for the past 30years.

In 2016, Norman received the Independent Publishers Book Award, Bronze Medal for his book “Reef and Rainforest: An Aboriginal Voice Through Art and Story” in Chicago. He was also included in the Queensland Who’s Who Book of 2008.

Norman is a pastor and conference host and is a sought-after speaker in Australia and overseas, speaking in the USA, UK, Canada, NZ, the Pacific Islands, Israel, Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. He is also the co-founder of the Centre for International Reconciliation and Peace and Indigenous Friends of Israel International.

Episode 167
What can Independent Candidates Offer
While the Prime Minister has been out and about for months buying votes and with the Federal election now call the leader of the opposition leader has hit the road with his alternate bag of goodies for the voters. With every giveaway comes a missed opportunity to pay down our intergenerational TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT. With no ability to bestow their constituents with gifts from the public purse, how can independent candidates compete in this era of entitlement. Can the just the commitment to best represent the electorate’s best interests be enough?

Guest
Norman Miller
Author and Artist
Independent Candidate for Leichhardt
Norman is married to Barbara and has lived in Cairns for over 50 years. He is an Aboriginal artist and businessman. He owns and operates, the Munganbana Reef and Rainforest Aboriginal Art Gallery which has endure through the fickle tourist economy of Cairns for the past 30years.

In 2016, Norman received the Independent Publishers Book Award, Bronze Medal for his book “Reef and Rainforest: An Aboriginal Voice Through Art and Story” in Chicago. He was also included in the Queensland Who’s Who Book of 2008.

Norman is a pastor and conference host and is a sought-after speaker in Australia and overseas, speaking in the USA, UK, Canada, NZ, the Pacific Islands, Israel, Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. He is also the co-founder of the Centre for International Reconciliation and Peace and Indigenous Friends of Israel International

13/04/2025

With more than 1400 party members the Riverina looks like it will be a State before Northern Queensland.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/710074524709211

08/04/2025

Episode 166 – Past Leaders, Still Leading Lights
The principles and visions of many of our past leaders remain with us not only through the written word but also, in the instances were institutions bear their name and embody their essence. Unfortunately, time has faded the memory of even these leaders from the wider public. To some extent these institutes will rekindle public awareness as to the deeds of our past leaders, their primary role is to ensure that the principles and visions are propagated through new generations of leadership. For Regional and Rural Australia in an age where the political influence of the tens of millions of voters about our capital overwhelms them, it has never been more import to than invoke the memory and vision of Sir Earl Christmas Grafton Page founder of the Country Party and the New England New State Movement.

Guest
Gerard Holland
CEO Page Research Centre
Gerard is the Chief Executive Officer of the Page Research Centre. He was born and raised on a farm in Greenethorpe NSW, about 23 laps of Mount Panorama, southeast of Bathurst.
Gerard is firmly of the belief that better outcomes for rural Australia will lead to better outcomes for all Australians.
Prior to joining the Page Research Centre, Gerard was the director of Outreach and Strategic Partnerships at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship in London. He also worked for the UK based Legatum Institute, a think tank with the stated aim to advance the education of the public in national and international political, social and economic policy. There, Gerard led the Secretariat for the Legatum Institute’s Transformation of Society Programme.
Whilst in London, Gerard also advised as a speech writer for the CEO of Alliance for Responsible Citizenship and conservative party peer, Baroness Philippa Stroud.
He has also worked as an electorate officer to former Regional Development and Communications Minister and Deputy Leader of the National Party, the Hon. Fiona Nash, and spent a season in Canada as a screenwriter.

Episode 166 – Past Leaders, Still Leading Lights
The principles and visions of many of our past leaders remain with us not only through the written word but also, in the instances were institutions bear their name and embody their essence. Unfortunately, time has faded the memory of even these leaders from the wider public. To some extent these institutes will rekindle public awareness as to the deeds of our past leaders, their primary role is to ensure that the principles and visions are propagated through new generations of leadership. For Regional and Rural Australia in an age where the political influence of the tens of millions of voters about our capital overwhelms them, it has never been more import to than invoke the memory and vision of Sir Earl Christmas Grafton Page founder of the Country Party and the New England New State Movement.

Guest
Gerard Holland
CEO Page Research Centre
Gerard is the Chief Executive Officer of the Page Research Centre. He was born and raised on a farm in Greenethorpe NSW, about 23 laps of Mount Panorama, southeast of Bathurst.

Gerard is firmly of the belief that better outcomes for rural Australia will lead to better outcomes for all Australians.

Prior to joining the Page Research Centre, Gerard was the director of Outreach and Strategic Partnerships at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship in London. He also worked for the UK based Legatum Institute, a think tank with the stated aim to advance the education of the public in national and international political, social and economic policy. There, Gerard led the Secretariat for the Legatum Institute’s Transformation of Society Programme.

Whilst in London, Gerard also advised as a speech writer for the CEO of Alliance for Responsible Citizenship and conservative party peer, Baroness Philippa Stroud.

He has also worked as an electorate officer to former Regional Development and Communications Minister and Deputy Leader of the National Party, the Hon. Fiona Nash, and spent a season in Canada as a screenwriter.