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.
While the nation may be watching the seat of Monash, I’ll be focused on local issues in my electorate.
Monash needs a representative with experience, tenacity and strength to represent this great region. As an experienced independent, not beholden to any group or individual, I can achieve more for the people of Monash.
I’ve been humbled by the encouragement I’ve received right across the electorate and incredibly grateful for the army of volunteers who have offered to support my campaign.
As your independent representative, I’ll bring all my experience and knowledge to the table in Canberra to work in the best interests of the people of Monash.
I can’t be bought and neither can our electorate.
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.
The government’s No Jab No Pay policy - which withholds 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 is unreasonable, unethical and unconscionable in a free and democratic country like ours.
And it’s the only law in the world that ties a person’s access to government social support payments to compliance with a medical procedure!
Welfare payments being used as coercive leverage against parents for personal health choices, targeting parents least able to absorb a loss of payments, punishing young families, single parents, and low-income Australians who are already doing it tough.
Coercion is not good policy - it’s lazy and unethical governance.
It erodes trust in public health and undermines informed decision-making – two cornerstones of safe and ethical healthcare.
But it seems daring to question a doctor about vaccines – how safe is it? what’s in it? has it been tested? is seen as a radical and extremist concept.
You’d have thought the ability to have a conversation - weigh risks and benefits - and decline a medical product without facing fear of financial reprisal from your own government would be the automatic right of any person or parent – and not just a right, but encouraged!
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’s a pro-choice, pro-ethics position.
The government should never hold your child’s welfare hostage to your medical decisions.
The line has been crossed and it’s well past time we drew it back.
Russell Broadbent here, your true Independent for Monash.
Australia is richly endowed with natural resources, which should primarily benefit the Australian people. The Federal Government’s responsibility is to manage these resources wisely to provide affordable, abundant energy and create significant opportunities to strengthen our economy and improve the government’s bottom line on its budget.
Unfortunately, the government has failed in this task—particularly when it comes to gas. Reports indicate that we may soon consider importing more gas, which is absurd given that around 80% of Australian gas is either exported or used to produce gas for domestic consumption. Australia is one of the world’s top three exporters of gas, yet we still face potential shortages. If a shortage arises, it will be the result of government mismanagement, not a lack of resources.
To secure a brighter future, the government must generate revenue from Australia's resources rather than burdening its citizens. And it must maintain a steady supply of natural energy resources, to ensure cheap and reliable energy for all Australians households and particularly the businesses and jobs that go with it.
This is the kind of economic and energy justice I believe Australia deserves—one that benefits the nation, not just a few or international companies.
That's justice as I see it.
Hello Monash. Russell Broadbent here, your federal Independent member for Monash .
I'm making a bold prediction.
And that prediction is that it will take a true Independent in Monash, to finally kickstart the construction of a new Hospital in Warragul!
There was no announcement in last night's Budget to kickstart the planning stage for a new West Gippsland Hospital. The major Parties will have to be dragged kicking and screaming before they'll commit to funding a new hospital.
Just look at the situation locally. The State electorate of Narracan is one of the safest Liberal seats in Victoria and as such, Warragul gets nothing!
Meanwhile, just down the highway in the marginal electorate of Pakenham, funding for a new hospital is miraculously announced by the Allan Government.
Almost every political pundit is tipping there will be a minority government following the upcoming Federal election.
As your Independent Member for Monash, I will use every ounce of political leverage I have to obtain the $60 million required to kickstart the planning process for a new hospital.
By doing this, the State Government - regardless of which Party is in power - will have no option but to commit to building a brand-new hospital here in West Gippsland.
So don't let that leverage go to waste!
Let's make sure we maximise every possibility to get the new hospital that our communities so desperately need and deserve by re-electing me as your truly independent Member for Monash at the upcoming election.
After raising the issue of Australia’s horrendous and coercive No Jab No Pay No Play policies last year, I received thousands of emails from distraught parents who shared their heartbreaking stories of how these despicable and unethical policies have impacted their lives.
Yesterday I asked Professor Ian Brighthope about his views on these policies from a health perspective.
With the Federal Budget being handed down later tonight, I want to draw your attention to a cohort of people that are paying the price for this government’ spending spree.
It’s mums and dads - middle-income earners – who are carrying more than their fair share of the tax burden. These Australians bear the brunt of personal income taxes, GST and property taxes, without seeing a fair return in terms of access to public services or infrastructure. If this year’s Federal Budget from the Albanese Labor Government goes the way I expect, I fear that we will be heading down an unfortunate track. We need change, we need to support middle-income Australians. It can’t be all bills and no benefit.
I expect there will be a multitude of ‘cost-of-living’ measures, or sugar-hits as I like to call them. These temporary fixes are concerning because the real reason Australians need such help is due to the Government’s own policy failures. The more the Government offers these band-aid solutions, the more it keeps Australians dependent. Much like how sugary cereals are marketed as healthy for children – promising a quick fix while ignoring the long-term consequences. Neglect the issue, advertise the problem, and sell the solution. Like a salesman, it seems the Government is always there at the right time with just the remedy we need. But like buying a new car every year, do you really need it?
Do we really need taxpayer-funded $200 off our energy bill when the Government’s policy has caused them to go up by far more? Do we really need taxpayer-funded home buyer grants when it’s the Government’s own neglect which has seen Australian housing be among the most expensive in the world. It’s the most perverse scenario where Australians pay tax, battle less than ideal conditions, and then are expected to be forever grateful because of some ‘cost-of-living’ measure.
We can address the cost of living using policy, rather than more debt. An example, we should abandon costly and unrealistic goals like ‘Net Zero’, which impose endless burdens with no clear economic, or environmental benefit. Further, we will need to cut useless red tape on small businesses, farmers and housing developments to ensure timely and cost-efficient outcomes. And lastly, the public service and public-funded employment is due for a reassessment because in recent times it has accounted for an unacceptably large portion of total employment growth. We need to support more productive industries, which create benefit, and can alleviate tax burdens for the everyday Australian.
No responsible business or household would budget the way that the Australian Government does. It’s reckless to put politics ahead of pragmatism, and all it means is Australians are collateral damage in the bickering between the red and blue team.
To conclude, I want to see our fiscal policy address 3 main things:
All of which is achievable as a true Independent Member of Parliament, not bound to idealisms or party lines – I will be committed to doing what’s right by the people of Monash, and wider Australia.
Russell Broadbent here, Member for Monash.
Today, March 20, is Closing the Gap Day.
It’s been some 20 years since the Social Justice Report in 2005 was released, which prompted grassroots campaigns to bring about health equality for Indigenous Australians.
Yes, some progress has been made in the years that followed. But how much has really changed since 2005?
The latest report released by the Productivity Commission is a disturbing read – just four of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track.
Indigenous incarceration rates are on the rise – alongside rates of suicide and indigenous children living in out of home care.
Closing the Gap is often framed as a political issue – but it isn’t. It’s a humanitarian one.
Focussing on the health, education, employment, and social wellbeing of ALL Australians, especially Indigenous Australians who have been historically marginalised and neglected, should be a priority regardless of who’s in power.
Federal Independent Member for Monash, Russell Broadbent MP, has committed to securing $40 million to create up to 40 extra aged-care beds for residents in Leongatha.
Federal Government funding would initiate the highly anticipated construction of Stage 1 of Woorayl Lodge’s new facility on Boags Road. The design comprises an 80 bed, state-of-the-art facility that would allow residents to age in the one place.
The original building is more than 50 years old and struggling to meet increasing demand.
Mr Broadbent said that after years of behind-the-scenes work, now is the time to see this project through to completion.
“We are seeking $40 million for construction because the people of Leongatha deserve this project,” Mr Broadbent said.
“We want to ensure people can receive quality care locally, rather than moving location, which only places further strain on the resident and their support network.”
Presently, Woorayl Lodge is a 41-bed facility, with more than 30 people on their waiting list.
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Ross, said the greater Leongatha region desperately needs the new facility.
“In South Gippsland, we are seeing an increase of people aged over 80 years who are
in need of care. They are not coming into care until later in life, so they have more complex needs,” Mr Ross said.
“There are no other facilities of this scale being planned for this region, so Leongatha and the greater region will benefit. Not to mention the creation of jobs and the wider economic benefits.”
Yesterday I, along with a collective of concerned Australians - including parliamentarians, science and medical professionals, legal experts, and researchers wrote to the Editors of the Australian newspaper in response to James Dowling’s article, Covid Deaths Endure Five Years On, published on March 11, 2025.
In relation to the assertions made in the article, we’re calling on The Australian to:
Australians were assured these vaccines were safe. Now, we have credible concerns that demand investigation. This is not about blame - it’s about accountability. Australians were told these vaccines were safe. Now, we have serious questions.
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.
