Georgia Steele is an independent candidate in the southern Sydney seat of Hughes and is up against the current member Craig Kelly, and candidates from the major political parties. It’s a difficult task for any independent to win any federal seat but there seems to be a groundswell of support for change in the 2022 federal election.

There are many key issues not being addressed by the federal government – climate change, women’s safety, the management of the pandemic – and Steele is using these issues as a focus for her campaign, as well as taking action on integrity in politics. At a time when Australia has slipped dramatically in the international corruption index – from 85% in 2012, to its current ranking of 73% (Australia’s lowest ranking ever), it seems a focus on these issues is coming at the right time for the electorate. And for candidates who are prepared to make a stand and try to do things differently, there may be some electoral reward, because in the current era of the pandemic, doing more of the same in politics is not going to work.

In this in-depth interview with David Lewis, Steele outlines all the reasons why she would be best placed to make positive changes to the Australian political landscape and offer the electorate of Hughes a far better voice to Parliament.