Hi. I'm Victor Barwick, an independent candidate for Sandgate in the coming general election. I was born in the lucky country, but it seems that we are no longer the privileged people we once were. There are numerous obvious problems that seem to be out of control, and I don't believe that the parties that created this situation will be able to fix it. I think it is important that the state government starts planning for the future, and not just talk about immediate problems, or create laws to punish the majority for telling the truth.

As a child I attended Sandgate State School. I lived in Deagon St. and I remember walking past the lagoon each day on my way to school. I have always loved the outdoors, so I didn't really enjoy school. I can remember going on long walks with my grandfather down to Shorncliffe Pier when he would visit us each year. I'm happy that I have good memories from my childhood. 

I entered the workforce during the recession we had to have. This was when we were entering the global economy, and sending our manufacturing jobs offshore. It was very difficult for a young person without experience to find work. I did some labouring jobs, and completed a vocational course at TAFE. I had hoped to get an apprenticeship, but they were hard to find in Queensland. I have been working in the transport industry for the last 27 years, and I enjoy my work.

I have lived in 9 different places around Brisbane during the last 20 years, and I feel the pressure of the housing crisis personally. I rent a room in Deagon, about 10 minutes from where I work. 


I would like to see the following issues dealt with in the next 4 years:

No forced vaccinations. Government mandates requiring vaccinations to be able to work forced people with debts to pay to comply, a violation of their human right to give free and fully informed consent.

No more lockdowns by Government. This method to restrict Covid 19 damaged the economy, and in the end was followed by just letting the disease run through the population. We must not let this happen again.

Remove emergency powers that allow 1 unelected person to shut down the entire state. The very idea of being a democracy is that many people will be involved in important decisions that affect the lives of the whole population.


Freedom to tell the truth at all times. Recently there has been much debate about the meaning of gender. The traditional meaning based on the physical attributes associated with the role you play in the reproductive process is being replaced by any individuals fantasy. If an adult individual wants to think, speak, or act in a certain way, and be free to do so, then they should accept that other individuals may have their own opinion about these things. No one else should be punished for having a different opinion. Recent changes to the Antidiscrimination Act are making unreasonable requirements in the workplace. It will make it very hard for businesses to function, as it will require your boss to prevent discrimination from happening. I believe this will be impossible, and any penalties applied will cause businesses to fail. In their wisdom the Government has chosen to allow these changes to come into effect after the elections are held. This law should be abolished.


Equality for all. Remove requirements to please minority groups. 


Increase the capacity of Queensland's hospitals. 3.9 beds/1000 people is insufficient. Japan and South Korea have 12 beds/1000 people. People are being sent home from hospital before they are ready just to make room. This is a dangerous practice.


Build New Dams. Queensland's water resources are insufficient for the future. We cannot afford to run out! In the millennium drought we were reduced to less than 20 percent of capacity left in the dam. The population has grown 20 percent since then, so a drought of the same length would run the dam dry. It has been irresponsible of both major parties to not build more dams on the Brisbane River during their time in government. I would support more dams on the Brisbane River, and the Hell's Gate dam in North Queensland. I would support the Bradfield Scheme, which would give Australia permanent water security. All development requires water, and as our population grows our water resources must increase.

There are plans for changes in Sandgate, with multi-storey buildings proposed. This may be inevitable, but I think there needs to be careful planning for the impact this will have on our community. It may be wise to consider building these on higher ground considering the predictions of global sea rises in the coming years, even though it has barely started yet. Average tides at Fort Denison, Sydney, (tides and currents.noaa.gov) show a 10cm rise in 100 years, but we wouldn't want to waste the natural resources, just in case the predictions are right.

Proper consideration of renewable energy cost, waste products, and emissions. We are told that renewables are the cheapest and cleanest form of power. I am curious about whether they count the cost and emissions of mining the resources for building these renewable power sources, the emissions to run the windmills, and the cost and consequences of dumping so much waste every 20 years. This is a very short useful life for the amount of waste produced. There is also the cost of the transmission lines to bring the power from the Outback to the city.

Allow open debate about the climate change cause and effect. Sometimes there are assumptions made that can over a long time be proven false. We must continue to allow open debate so that we are not blindly following a wrong path. Maybe we should discuss the elephant in the room, global shipping. Does it not contribute to emissions because these emissions happen in international waters? If we are trying to cut back on emissions, shipping large amounts of ore overseas to buy it back as a refined product doesn't make sense. We should return to manufacturing locally. This would make our economy much stronger and healthier, and prevent the shortage of goods that was evident during the Covid lockdowns. We are aware now that shipping could be affected by regional conflicts, and we shouldn't be so reliant on it.


Find a better way to deal with juvenile offenders. 


Equal justice. No more double demerits or penalties. I believe that there should be an equal penalty for the same action. Why should a person be given twice the fine for the same offence, just because they have a criminal record. Repeat offenders will quickly lose their licence. This does make life more difficult for people, as it can impact on their ability to obtain and keep employment. We shouldn't make it worse by this unjust approach.

Reverse changes to the seatbelt fine. I personally know several people who have been caught not wearing their seatbelt properly. They have found it very hard to pay the massive increase that has been applied to this fine. I was talking to a man who had his 20 year old daughter as a passenger. She was not wearing the seatbelt properly, so both the driver and the passenger received a fine. Previously the driver was only fined if his passenger was under 16 years old. It is not reasonable to expect a driver to watch the road, and see if a passenger has removed their seatbelt. I prefer to have the driver watching the road, as this reduces the chance of an accident, and the need for seatbelts to save us.

Make reasonable efforts to reduce government debt. I do not consider granting government contracts to overseas or interstate companies because they put in a cheaper tender a reasonable way to try to reduce expenses and debt. I can remember the trains built in India, that needed refitting when they arrived here. The loss of local jobs has a negative impact on the economy, and this reduces taxes to governments for years. We need to support our local industry as much as possible. We also need to build the necessary infrastructure for the future, such as the necessary dams which benefit us all, and delaying this to pay down debt would be a most ignorant thing for a government to do.

Reverse the privatization of the Titles Registry, and the full digitalization of Titles.  As Title Deeds show the ownership of your land and houses, it is incredible that the government has decided to make the Titles registry a private company. I read a good article claiming there was false accounting involved at  queenslandeconomywatch.com. It should be considered a very important duty of the government to protect the legitimate interests of the people, and this is especially important when we are talking about the largest investment that most people make in their lifetime. I had a friend tell me of a visit at his dad's house by people claiming they had bought the place. He informed them that it had not been sold, and was not for sale. He then received several phone calls still claiming that the house had been bought by others. In the last call, he was asked when his dad bought the house? He responded that his dad didn't buy the house, but that he had built the house. After this the phone calls stopped. Most people won't be able to claim this. The government has chosen to only have digital Titles for real estate. There have always been scammers, but the tools they have available to them today make them much more dangerous. To only have online Titles leaves the system open to hackers changing records, and it would be almost impossible to prove your ownership after this. I believe that returning to issuing physical Title deeds would add extra protection against scammers, as this may end up being your only proof of ownership.

Stay away from nuclear power! I was open to the idea of nuclear power when I was younger, because other countries used it, and it just seemed like it would help with providing a lot of power from a small input. I have listened to the debate about nuclear power over the years, and heard some people talk about the whole process. The mining process is quite dangerous, and this led to the closing of the Ben Lomond mine. There was a serious radioactive spill caused by torrential rainfall. This has  polluted the Burdekin River, which is a source of water for Townsville in drought time. This is another good reason to build the Hells Gate dam, as it would be located above the polluted area. There are many radioactive substances more dangerous than the uranium they wish to use exposed during mining. Traditionally nuclear power stations are quite large and require a lot of water for cooling. It is now proposed that we use a new technology, small modular reactors, and we are told "don't worry, it is perfectly safe". The nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom produced power for about 60 years and it will take 120 years to shut them down. We still don't know if this will be a happy ending, or if some catastrophe may occur in the process. Again, it is a matter of accounting for the whole process, not just the end result. Personally I think that nuclear power is like voting for a political party. It's just not worth the risk.

We cannot afford to have shortsighted parties running our state. I am standing because I believe that there needs to be a greater diversity of ideas in the Parliament, and I hope to contribute positively to our future. Please vote 1 for me, and remember to number every box.

My Christian Faith.

I was raised in a Christian family, and we attended church every week. Because of this, I thought that I was a good person. My parents taught me to always do the right thing, and I tried my best to follow the rules. I learnt the ten commandments, and I tried to obey them. Most people would have thought I was a good person, but I would tell a lie if I thought I needed to. One day I heard that the Bible says "all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. This is the second death". I realized that I am a sinner, and by my sin I had offended a holy God. The Bible says that "the soul that sins, it shall die". There would be a terrible  judgement upon me for my sin. God is good, and because He is perfect He cannot accept a sinner into Heaven. He considers anything that a sinner does to be corrupt, so nothing that I could do would save me from His judgement. But God is love. It is the essence of who God is. Because of this, God chose to become a man, the Lord Jesus. He was born of a virgin, as prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6) and the Lord Jesus lived a perfect life. When Jesus was about 30, God declared that He was sinless with the words "this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased". The Lord Jesus then spent 3 years calling for people to repent and turn to God. During this time there were few who listened, even though He constantly did many good works and miracles. This stirred up jealousy among the religious and political leaders of His day. They feared that they would lose their positions of power, so they arrested Him and tried Him. They had arranged false witnesses, but they couldn't agree on their testimony against him.

Then the high priest asked him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am, and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes and said, what need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. Mark 14:61-64

 The Lord Jesus did not lie when He said He was God, so this was not blasphemy. They took him before the Roman governor Pilate, who after considering His case said "I find no fault in him". Then, to please the crowd, Pilate ordered the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus at Calvary. They scourged Him, and put a crown of thorns upon His head, and nailed him to the cross, a most terrible way to die. The Lord Jesus was sinless, but he died and shed his blood for me. He, the innocent one, dying for me, the guilty. The Bible says that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. In his death , the Lord Jesus Christ took the judgement for my sin. He was buried, and 3 days later he rose again, showing that God had accepted his sacrifice for my sins.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:16-18.
I have confessed that I am a sinner before a holy God, and I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sin, and that God has raised him from the dead. Now, instead of the judgement that I deserved, I have been forgiven and I have received God's gift of everlasting life. I am still a sinner but I have been saved by God's grace. The Bible says "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness". To be justified means that God treats me as though my sin never happened. 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.

A good and perfect God is now able to accept me into Heaven, because He no longer sees me as a sinner, but as a son.

I was not born as a Christian. Being a member of a church would not make me a Christian. Being a good person would not make me a Christian. The Bible clearly states that a person can only be saved from being judged by God for their sin by personally believing that the Lord Jesus died for their sin. God offers forgiveness and everlasting life to everyone who will believe in what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for them. Remember the Bible says "and thou shall call his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins.

I would ask you to carefully consider this question:

Where will you spend eternity? 



Authorised by Victor Barwick

Name of presentation

Name of project

Name of video

 

Get in touch at [email address]