Hello, I’m Russell Broadbent, Independent Member for Monash.
I’ve always stood for the people I represent — not party lines, not special interests. Right now, we need real leadership.
That’s why I’m focused on the things that matter most to our community. These include policies that:
I’m fighting to secure $60 million in federal funding to get the new Warragul Hospital underway — because healthcare in Gippsland must meet the needs of our growing population.
I believe aged care should be built on dignity — for both our elders and the carers who support them. Farmers and small businesses are the backbone of our economy.
I back policies that reduce red tape and support our farmers to propagate and produce.
On energy, I’m practical. We need affordable, reliable electricity — using the abundant resources Australia already has and ensuring community consultation.
I support open, honest dialogue about health freedom — because Australians deserve informed consent and bodily autonomy.
And most of all, I believe in integrity in government.
That means standing firm on principle, even when it’s unpopular.
I’m Russell Broadbent — and I’ll keep working for you, your family, and the future of Monash.
Hi, Russell Broadbent, your Independent Member for Monash.
Today, I’m calling on the Prime Minister and Peter Dutton, to visit my electorate of Monash and announce their commitment to fund the new Warragul Hospital.
Yesterday I wrote to both leaders inviting them to commit to the first stage of funding—$60 million—to get this vital project underway.
This funding will trigger the state government to come to the table and it’s key to unlocking the full build of the Warragul and District Hospital.
On top of that, the federal government must also commit to delivering the Monash on-site medical training facility—an education hub that will support the next generation of local health professionals right here in Gippsland.
It’s clear the major parties are taking this electorate for granted. They think they can ignore Monash and still win your support. Well, I’m here to tell them—they won’t.
People continue to ask me who I’ll support in the event of a hung parliament?
Well, let me give you a straight answer:
My priority in this campaign is the Warragul and District Hospital.
I will not support either side unless they commit to the hospital before election day, that’s my commitment!
I’m bringing this issue to a head—once and for all.
No commitment, No support. It’s that simple.
Thanks for listening.
Hello Russell Broadbent here – your independent member for Monash.
Today I spoke in the parliament about my grave concerns regarding the government’s unreasonable, unethical and unconscionable No Jab, No Pay policy.
My speech was inspired by a powerful letter written to me by a young mother, Chloe, who’s been financially punished for failing to adhere to the government’s immunisation schedule.
I want to honour Chloe by reading her letter in full to you:
Chloe told me that:
Since 2016, this policy has withheld key government entitlements; The Family Tax Benefit Part A supplement and childcare subsidies, from families who choose not to vaccinate their children in accordance with the national schedule.
This is not just another health regulation. It is, to this day, the only federal law in Australia and in the wider world, that ties a person’s access to government financial support to their compliance with a specific medical procedure.
We’re not talking about schooling, or border control, or emergency quarantine powers. We’re talking about welfare payments—a cornerstone of Australia’s social safety net—being used as leverage against private medical choices. This is not a health policy. It is a coercion policy. And it targets those least able to absorb the loss—young families, single parents, and low-income Australians already doing it tough.
We pride ourselves on giving everyone a fair go. But what’s fair about punishing struggling families for making a personal health choice? What’s Australian about using a child’s entitlements to force their parents into line?
This wasn’t just a one-off policy, it was the beginning of a slippery slope. Once we allowed the government to tie medical procedures to financial support, it became easier to tie it to jobs, to travel, to participation in society. We are now reaping the consequences of letting coercion become part of the public health toolkit.
We’re told this is for the greater good. But coercion is not good policy. It’s lazy governance.
Even the World Health Organization—so often invoked in public health debate—expert advisory group, SAGE warns that mandates must be approached with great care, as the potential negative consequences may outweigh the benefits—an implicit call for any such measure to be proportional to the risk it seeks to address.
In the case of No Jab No Pay, there was no national emergency. No outbreak. No extraordinary risk to justify this kind of pressure. There was only policy-making by ideology—using the blunt tool of financial punishment to enforce medical compliance.
Let’s contrast that with the WHO’s global strategy on immunisation through to 2030—the Immunization Agenda 2030, or IA2030. It highlights the importance of:
Nowhere—nowhere—does it endorse coercion. Nowhere does it recommend withholding family welfare as a strategy to increase vaccine uptake.
Instead, it emphasizes people-centred approaches that build trust and promote informed decision-making.
Trust. Informed decision-making. These are not radical ideas. These are the cornerstones of ethical healthcare.
And that’s what’s been lost under No Jab No Pay. The ability to have a conversation. The ability to weigh risks and benefits. The ability to decline a medical product without facing financial reprisal from your own government.
This policy has not increased confidence in vaccination. It has eroded trust in public health and created a generation of Australians who feel bullied by the very institutions meant to support them.
We must be better than this.
We must stand for informed consent, not enforced compliance. We must return to a framework where health decisions are personal, not political—and where families are not punished for asking questions.
Repealing No Jab No Pay is not an anti-vaccine position. It is a pro-choice, pro-ethics, pro-democracy position.
Because in a free society, the government should never hold your child’s welfare hostage to your medical decisions.
The line was crossed. It’s time we drew it back.
Russell Broadbent here, your Independent Member for Monash.
The Australian Human Rights Commission is copping a lot of heat – and rightly so.
Last week respected Liberal MP Julian Leeser delivered a ferocious attack on the Commission, saying its very existence should be called into question for failing to defend Jewish Australians. He said the commission is “flailing and failing” and that if the Commission “cannot fulfil its purpose, we must question its very existence” which includes a budget of $43m and 200 staff.
I wholeheartedly agree with his sentiments.
Yesterday the Commission released its report titled: Collateral Damage: What the untold stories from the COVID -19 pandemic reveal about human rights in Australia.
I don’t need a report to tell me about the damage, despair and desperation left in the wake of Australia’s response to the pandemic … because I’ve been listening to these untold stories – untold because so many were censored – for the past five years.
Remember the hundreds of days in lockdown, mask mandates, limits on how far you could travel from your home, limits on how many times a day you could leave your home, limits on how much toilet paper you could buy, and vax mandates so you could go to work and feed your family?
Of course, there were going to be consequences for such draconian and inhumane rules and excessive government overreach!
This report from The Human Rights Commission is way too little and way too late!
The Commissioner says the report is not about placing blame – but it absolutely should be!
Governments at all levels must be held to account for the pain, suffering and distress that’s been perpetrated against the people of this great nation.
Basic human rights might have been an afterthought for the government and the human rights commission during the pandemic. But they weren’t for me.
That’s justice as I see it.
Russell Broadbent here, your Independent Member for Monash.
You’ve probably heard by now that I’m recontesting the seat of Monash in the upcoming federal election.
And if you’ve been following me, I believe you’ll have a pretty good idea as to why I’m running again.
I have unfinished business in Monash.
And I truly believe that as an Independent Member of Parliament – free of the constraints of the Party room – that I am best placed to represent the people of Monash in these challenging times!
There are local and national issues that I need to continue to fight for. Issues like: Getting the new Warragul Hospital up and running.
Improving sporting facilities across the electorate so that men and women can participate in the sports of their choice.
And continuing to hold government to account and stopping government overreach.
But to fight for these issues, I need your help. And by help – I mean putting up signs, and most importantly, doing a stint at a polling booth.
The one thing I won’t be doing, is asking you for a campaign donation.
That’s because I’m not accepting any financial donations to help with my campaign.
As your genuinely independent representative, I’m not beholden to any wealthy donors, groups or individuals.
The feedback I’ve received already has been heartwarming – thank you!
So, if you can help, even in a small way, please get in touch with me.
Monash needs a representative with experience, tenacity and strength to represent this great region. I want you to know that I am, and will continue to be, more than just a voice for Monash.
Thanks for listening and for your support.
Russell Broadbent here, your Federal Member for Monash.
One year ago today, the community of Mirboo North and surrounds were hit by an unexpected tornado-like storm. The destruction - including massive trees which snapped like match sticks - was unprecedented, and with the storm ravaged community completely cut off from the outside world, people were forced to band together to support one another.
One of those groups that stepped in were the Wednesday Warriors from the Men’s Shed – a group of men whose ongoing dedication to the community continues to make a real difference.
As they reminded me recently, we all know that disaster can strike at any time, so it’s essential we’re as prepared as we can be for the unexpected. Based on their experience, here are a few tips from the Wednesday Warriors:
Number 1 – Access to clean drinking water: without power, or gravity-induced free-flow, many Mirboo North residents were left without water to drink, cook and clean with
Number 2 – Tinned and packaged food: but remember the can-openers! And remember stores of pet food. I know Caesar wouldn’t be happy, my dog, without his tucker.
Number 3 – Communications: with storm damage wiping out infrastructure, many people didn’t have power or phone access. Make a plan about how you might manage if communication networks are out for a prolonged period of time, including who you might check with like loved ones and neighbours.
Number 4 – Power: while battery-powered items were helpful, access to a generator or even knowing who has a generator is helpful.
Number 5 - Matches, lighters, spare fuel and gas: all essential for cooking and powering tools for clearing debris and improving immediate safety of damaged areas.
Number 6 - Hygiene products, medications – there was a severe shortage of hygiene products and difficulty accessing medications in Mirboo North.
Number 7 - Keep a stash of cash somewhere.
I encourage all communities to prepare and maintain readiness for anything that comes our way.
And a special thanks once again to everyone who’s stepped up in Mirboo North to support those in need over the past year.
Russell Broadbent here, your Independent Member for Monash.
You may have seen that the Australian Classification Board has asked for more power which would allow them to reclassify old books, films and television shows against today’s community standards.
The Australia that I know and love promotes robust debate and honest conversation.
So, I find it deeply alarming that another unelected bureaucratic agency is fishing for yet more control and power over our freedoms.
George Orwell famously said ‘who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.’
Yes, what the Classification Board are asking for isn’t necessarily censorship, but it is certainly an attempt to control the narrative.
Controlling the narrative…now where have we heard that before? …
As Geordie Williamson said in The Australian, ‘both sides of politics have sought to re-establish themselves as arbiters of what the rest of us may see, hear or read.’
Just look at the Mis and Disinformation Bill, which was scrapped after an unrelenting grassroots campaign calling for our freedoms to be protected.
I dare say that in some ten, fifteen, twenty years from now, our seemingly perfect and ‘woke’ present will not be deemed acceptable against future community standards.
It’s incomprehensible to me that what was the social norm in the past will be measured against today’s standards.
I’m all about rewriting history when it comes to ensuring that we don’t make the same mistakes of the past.
But I’m not about rewriting history when the purpose is to control the narrative.
That’s justice as I see it.
Censoring the past robs us of our cultural future | The Australian
Russell Broadbent here, your Independent Member for Monash.
It doesn’t take a genius to look at Australia’s current energy crisis to work out there’s a problem – a big problem.
Last week in The Australian newspaper there was a scathing piece on Minister Bowen’s poor handling of the energy portfolio.
As the article’s author stated:
Whether you sit in the fossil fuel or renewables camp is irrelevant here. In plain terms – at the moment, everyone’s losing.
We’re seeing higher energy bills. We’re seeing Aussie taxpayers funding unviable subsidies and policies, and we’re seeing approval ratings for renewable and fossil fuel companies alike dropping fast.
We need to cut through all this mess and focus on what really matters to everyday Australians: access to cheap, reliable power.
It is that simple.
I have said it many, many times before: Australia is rich with natural resources. Our competitive advantage is in coal and gas.
Pressing that advantage will make sure every Australian can benefit from the natural wealth of this nation.
That way, everyone can be a winner.
That’s justice as I see it.
Russell Broadbent here, your Independent Member for Monash.
Last December, the Albanese Government agreed to deliver a 15 per cent wage increase for Early Childhood Education and Care workers.
This works out to be around an extra $100 per week in the pockets of our essential childcare workers, with the Government set to chip in $3.6 billion dollars to make it happen.
Now, the money from this $3.6 billion dollar grant, delivered by the Department of Education, was meant to cover the government’s mandated wage increases for childcare workers.
But it turns out to be all smoke and mirrors.
The Australian newspaper reported last week that the Federal Education Department’s grant guidelines had left 85 per cent of the nation’s childcare workers without their promised $100 a week pay rise.
And those small day care owners – the ones we see in regional areas like ours – have rightly railed against the bureaucratic red tape, opting to ignore the grant and hike their fees up instead.
Which means it’s the parents who will pay more in the long run.
The grant sounds great in theory – small businesses wouldn’t be forced to rip money out of thin air to cover mandated wage increases for their workers.
But it’s not so great when, as one daycare owner puts it, “it takes two admin staff with three 8 hour working days to see whether it’s even worth them applying”!
So, I agree with this daycare owner when she says this grant is a joke.
I agree when she says that time-consuming compliance has gone through the roof.
And I agree when she says the system is complicated, difficult to understand and was rolled out too fast without proper consultation.
Our early educators do some of the most important work in the country, but at the same time they’re the most under paid and under-valued.
So what good is a wage rise if it’s not going to these valuable and hardworking people?
It’s smoke and mirrors.
And that’s justice as I see it.
Russell Broadbent here, independent Member for Monash.
Truth. Wisdom. Justice. Fairness. Freedom.
These are the values that I have stood by during my years as a parliamentarian.
Whether in the Liberal Party or as an independent, I have always been driven by values-based leadership – what is right, not what is politically expedient.
Issues that lie close to the heart of Monash residents – issues like cost of living, energy prices, supporting our farmers, families and small businesses. I engage directly with the community and actively advocate for what matters most to them.
My focus has always been on getting what’s best for Monash. I have worked tirelessly for new and improved infrastructure of this electorate – from big projects like the L. Rigby Cancer Centre in Wonthaggi and funding to address erosion at Inverloch and Silverleaves, to the small ones that make a big difference – like installing the Prom Views Street Library in Walkerville or sprucing up the Community Hub in Longwarry.
I have a deep understanding of the issues that matter most – big or small.
After all, I am answerable to you, the people. I am not motivated by towing the party lines or being a career politician.
I am not, and never have been, a yes man - I crossed the floor when I was a member of the Liberal party. I am prepared to take a stand when it matters – even when it puts my career on the line.
Over the past 12 months or so, I have spoken to many people across this beautiful electorate.
They are rightly concerned about the path this nation is on. They are concerned about our national identity, and how we, as a nation, should navigate what’s to come.
We are in unprecedented, uncertain and unexpected times. I believe that we are entering a difficult political climate, and no one knows what the next few years will bring.
But far from being lost in the wilderness, the path ahead is clear. I have unfinished business.
I have spoken to many people from Monash who have called on me to stand for the seat of Monash in 2025.
And that is exactly what I intend to do.
I also announce today that I will not be canvassing or accepting any donations. And if I receive them, they will be respectfully declined and returned.
Reason being I do not want to be beholden to any individual, group or party. As an independent, I want you to know that I am working in your interests and not for any other interest group.
However, I do need help on polling booths or putting a sign in your front yard, or just your conversation amongst your fellows.
Monash needs a representative who has the experience and tenacity to advocate for what is best for the region.
And I have the strength, expertise and wisdom to be more than just a voice for Monash.
It was my great pleasure to speak with Professor Augusto Zimmerman and Emeritus Professor Gabriel Moens who recalled their views on the gross misuse of power by government officials during Covid.
Professor Zimmerman said: “The government was the main agent of misinformation during this period. The social media outlets didn’t act on their own and the Government of the day were instructing outlets to exercise censorship to those that had a better answer to the crisis. What they did was absolutely appalling and I hope and I pray that one day these people can be brought to account because what they did was criminal.”
To view the full version of our chat, please visit: Chat with Professors Zimmerman and Moens (Full Version) - YouTube
I recently asked Elizabeth Hart about the concept of ‘duty of care’ and why so many doctors didn’t speak up about the need for informed consent in relation to vaccine mandates.
Elizabeth responded “They should have been questioning…AHPRA put out a position statement about the COVID-19 roll out which basically conscripted the practitioners to support that roll out, and it was made clear in the position statement that they are not allowed to question what was going on, that they would be at risk of being accused of that anti vaccination and suspended”.
