Local mental health worker and former nurse, Barbara Jane Murray, has announced she will stand as a United Australia Party (UAP) candidate for the seat of Robertson at the upcoming Federal Election.
Murray said she was shortlisted as a UAP candidate on the same day she discovered she would have to receive a COVID-19 vaccination to remain employed in the health service.
“I worked at Gosford hospital for years as a nurse and then retrained in counselling and psychology and went into the mental health sector,” Murray said.
“It’s a big jump [to politics] but I’ve always had in my mind that I might go into politics one day, it wasn’t something that was averse to me… I’ve thought about it, but it was never the right time.
“I started this process when [the UAP] did the call out for candidates when I was in my last role.
“I didn’t know whether my position was going to be mandated or not, but I still felt very strongly that there should not be people mandating a medical treatment, and people losing their job over it.”
Murray said she was invested in key social issues such as housing affordability, homelessness, domestic and family violence, and mental health.
As a registered Counsellor with the Australian Counselling Association, Murray said she is hoping to be able to advocate for counsellors to be involved more in mental health early-intervention treatment.
“I was intimately involved in the mental health landscape on the Central Coast, and we don’t have enough resources: it’s a multifactorial problem as we don’t have enough practitioners to deal with the demand,” Murray said.
“The demand has increased, people are more distressed, they are suffering with more depression and anxiety … there needs to be a proponent of education to increase practitioners over a longer period of time.
“Early intervention on the ground would hopefully clear up our waitlists… it’s a really big problem in NSW.”
She said she wants to get “local businesses back on track.
“The UAP will be revealing policies that show we have a strong plan for the economy to bring it back after two years of lockdowns and businesses closing down,” Murray said.
“When people are not worried about their survival needs, they start looking at the environment around them, they look for ways to help their neighbours and their community – if we have a strong, financially stable region then those things would follow on.
“My focus is to bring that back with no mandates and no vaccine passports.”
When asked about her opinion about PEP-11 and if it should go ahead, Murray said she is currently researching the background behind the project and couldn’t comment but acknowledged there was confusion in the Federal Government surrounding the outcome of the permit.
Murray said the UAP’s climate change policy is “about looking after the environment, but we measure that with looking after the Australian people and we will not desert the people with our policies.”
Murray said she has not yet decided on preferences, but the UAP has stated they would like voters to “put the major parties and incumbents last.”
The full video of the interview with Barbara Jane Murray can be found on CCN’s YouTube channel here.
Maisy Rae