Leader of the Australian Independents and Senate candidate Dr Patricia Peterson said if elected, she will maintain access to constituents via an office in north Queensland. 

Dr Petersen, the lead Senate candidate for the minority party, said it's important  the region is well-represented, and she is committed to attending to the economic, cultural, social and environmental needs of North Queenslanders. She said she is the only Senate candidate who will have an offices in north and south Queensland.

"As the parliamentary representative for Queensland, I should be accessible to all Queenslanders," she said. "I can only effectively serve, protect and fight for my constituents if they have access to me, they can talk to me, they can tell me directly what’s of concern to them,” she said.

Dr Petersen said she is becoming known as the "politician for the people". "People from all walks of life can talk to me, confide in me and trust me," she said. "I don’t judge people and I treat everyone with respect. I live by the adage: for one to be trusted, one must be trustworthy; for one to be respected, one must be respectable.”

She said that her focus for the state's north was the economy, cost of living, jobs and tourism. “We need to get the economy back on track, provide people with jobs and invest in tourism. We need an immediate price freeze on electricity and we need to get other costs of living right down. People are not coping,” she said.

Earlier this month, Dr Peterson was among several minority party representatives to criticise Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Papua New Guinea plan for asylum seekers, according to an Alternative Media Group report. She described the PNG plan as "lacking compassion and economically ignorant". 

According to the Independents policy, all asylum seekers who arrive by boat should to be transported back to their own countries by plane, for processing, though the party is for increasing the refugee intake to 50,000 per year and for asylum seekers securing employment in rural and regional areas of Australia.

“If you’re a genuine refugee, you will help us, you will help our economy and we will help you get here safely and start a new life,” said Dr Peterson.

Dr Peterson made headlines last year during her state election campaign, standing against Ipswich incumbent Rachel Nolan. In March 2012, Dr Peterson came under fire over allegations of air-brushed campaign sign photographs. She denied the claims in a Queensland Times report, explaining she knows "exactly what to use to take a good photograph" thanks to 32 years in the modelling industry.

Dr Petersen was raised in a working class family, and said her parents were too poor to buy her a dress until their eldest son left school and went to work. “I lived in hand-made clothes and ‘hand-me-downs’," she said. "But I wouldn’t trade my upbringing for the world. I know what it’s like to do it tough. I wouldn’t have any understanding of struggle if I’d been born with a silver spoon in my mouth."

Dr Petersen said she worked three jobs to put herself through university, graduated in the top 1 per cent of all graduands, and won a competitive scholarship to do a PhD. Now, she is a University lecturer in Economics, Business and Politics, and has presented papers and been an invited speaker at conferences around the world, including New Zealand, Europe and the US.

“I worked hard and I was rewarded. I’ve been blessed. I’d like to give back now. I’d like to help others achieve their goals,” she said.

Australian Independents policies include:

• Pushing to save tax payers billions of dollars by banning all electoral advertising and How-to-Vote cards at polling booths.
• For banning donations from unions and corporations to political candidates and parties.
• Regulating the dairy industry to save farmers from financial collapse.
• For significant investment in the renewables industry.
• Against Coal Seam Gas mining and are for an immediate ban on coal seam gas mining in Australia.
• For a 12 month Paid Parental Leave Scheme.
• Believe that the NDIS is currently discriminatory, and will push to remove the age limit.
• Pushing to ensure Aboriginal communities, particularly those living in remote areas, receive significant housing, educational, training, work and health related support.
• Outlawing ATM fees.
• For creative ways of dealing with bothersome native animals (i.e. kangaroos in Canberra), as opposed to mass culls.
• Committed to significant funding and programs to stamp out bullying.
• Committed to outlawing whaling, including whaling for "scientific" purposes.

For a full list, see the Australian Independents' website here.