Stacey Whittaker is the One Nation candidate for Calare for the 2022 election. Ms Whittaker was born in Bathurst and has lived there her whole life. She graduated from Kelso High School and has completed extensive studies, predominantly through TAFE programs. Whittaker is a qualified bookkeeper, enrolled nurse, property valuer, licenced real estate agent and has extensive training in Human Resources and management. 

Whittaker is a former president of the Bathurst Business Chamber and received a Medal of the Order of Australia for volunteering efforts. As an employer of 18 years, Whittaker understands people’s need for skills and training to help better themselves and Australia. 

She acknowledged that living in regional Australia has its challenges but said she “wouldn’t swap growing up on this side of the Blue Mountains for anything”. Her volunteering has seen her work with people from all walks of life as such she sees that regional young people need every opportunity to stay in regional communities to live, learn, work, and raise families. 

Whittaker hopes to see a national apprenticeship scheme to help more young Australians, creating a larger pool of skilled workers for the future. She said Pauline Hanson had secured a program from the government that has created more than 3000 apprenticeships, which can “make a real positive difference in a young person’s life”.

She said she is ready for a change in politics and hopes for change in Calare, adding: “The community is tired of politics as usual and being taken for granted.”

Whittaker is also passionate about expanding the health services of Calare. She believes fundamentals of Australian democracy were “happily discarded during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Whittaker is particularly excited about One Nation’s policy which encourages all new health graduates to have three year contracts in regional areas. At the end of these three years all of their HECs and help debts are paid in full. This policy includes all health graduates such as doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, dentists, and physiotherapists. She sees this policy as a great way of helping with the current strained health crisis in hospitals. 

On the issue of climate change she said, One Nation is also a voice for the jobs and industries who have come under threat from the major parties’ plans for net-zero emissions.

She is looking for a ‘long-term vision’ that will invest into the future of Australia. One Nation campaigns on the idea that putting Australia first includes “ensuring foreign-owned multinationals operating here pay their fair share of tax…” 

Whittaker said she stands with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party because: “Pauline Hanson’s got the guts to say what people are thinking. One Nation is a voice for Australians marginalised, dismissed and ignored by the cosy political duopoly imposed on Australia by Labor and the Coalition, and whose jobs and industries are under continuing threat from the major parties’ rush to net-zero emissions.”

She adds that being the voice for Australia includes looking after farmers after times of drought and floods.