As a candidate for businessman and former MP Clive Palmer’s United Australian Party (UAP), Brett Nangle will be running in Cooper.

Acknowledging that environment and climate change are big issues for people in the inner northern metropolitan seat, Nangle assures voters that a transition to renewables will occur under the UAP.

However, he believes that 2030 isn’t a realistic timeframe and believes current infrastructure is incapable of supporting the demand for new renewable energy technologies.

Nangle supports the continued use of coal until there is, he says, a reliable alternative for base load power.

He says the UAP will investigate nuclear energy as a potential replacement.

Nangle lives in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Kilsyth where he also works as an accountant.

He has a Master of Commerce (Public Accounting) and is a registered tax agent.

Despite living around 30km away from Cooper, he has clients, colleagues and family who live within the electorate.

As a tax specialist, Nangle says he witnesses the impact of the rising cost of living every day.

His decision to enter politics is due to his frustration with successive governments, who he believes have failed to deal with this issue properly.

He blames infighting and self-serving career politicians for this perceived lack of action.

He believes his years of experience helping individuals and small businesses in the electorate deal with their taxes has given him the insight required to represent Cooper in Federal Parliament.

Nangle highlighted three key UAP policies which he believes will help the people of Cooper deal with the cost of living.

“If you have a home loan or a mortgage, we’ll make the first $10,000 of that tax deductible,” he told the Junction.

“If you work a second job-that second job’s taxes, we’ll cut them by 50%.”

He added that if elected, for “people who are on the aged pension, we’re going to increase that by $150 a fortnight.”

Reflecting the concerns of some Cooper residents the Junction spoke to, Nangle believes congestion is a major point of frustration for people in the electorate.

He believes current infrastructure isn’t doing enough to get cars off the roads.

Speaking of how the two train and tram lines running through the area don’t prevent inbound traffic from regularly backing up, he states, “Something’s going wrong there – we’ll fix that”.

Acknowledging that the treatment of asylum seekers is another key issue for the electorate, Nangle outlines the UAP’s policy on refugees.

He urges those seeking to enter Australia illegally by boat to instead consider buying a plane ticket from Indonesia, which he says is the cheaper and safer option.

He believes that this would channel all asylum seekers through the official immigration system and prevent the need for offshore detention, and insists that genuine refugees would have no issues with this method.

However, it appears that Brett Nangle’s election campaign in Cooper will be fought primarily on the need for tax and welfare reform in order to lower living expenses.

He says that the United Australia Party’s policies will be the remedy to years of inaction, stating that he joined the party to “put us [Australia] first…make us great again”.