The Greens have announced Troy Miller as their candidate to contest Cook at the state election on 26 October. Photo: Supplied.
The Greens have announced nurse and paramedic Troy Miller as the party’s candidate who will attempt to wrestle Cook from Labor’s grasp when voters go to the polls on 26 October.
In his candidate profile on the Greens website, Mr Miller says he has worked in hospitality and as a plumber over the past two decades, and as both a nurse and paramedic for the past five years.
Mr Miller said he believed the trust the community has for emergency healthcare operators needed to mirror the trust they had for whoever represented Cook in Parliament.
“Paramedics and nurses are one of the most trusted professions in Australia and across the world,” he writes in his profile.
“Trust should be one of the most important values your Member of Parliament should foster – if you cannot trust the person representing you, your community, or the policies that govern your everyday life, then it is time for a change.
“It is time to vote for someone you can trust; I intend to bring this trust I have earned working in the healthcare industry to the job of representing the Cook electorate; trust is a privilege that is given and I intend to uphold it.”
Mr Miller will be the fifth name on the Cook ballot paper for next month’s state election and will challenge Labor’s Cynthia Lui, the Liberal National Party’s David Kempton, One Nation’s Peter Campion and Katter’s Australian Party’s Duane Amos.
Independent Yen Loban confirmed to Cape York Weekly on 19 September he had withdrawn his candidacy.
Mr Miller’s profile confusingly identifies Port Douglas, Mareeba and Mossman as “various areas of the Cape” along with Cooktown and Thursday Island, and provides an undertaking to be out in the community and, unlike former prime minister Scott Morrison, “hold a hose” during a bushfire.
“If I am elected, you won’t find me at an office sitting behind a desk,” he says on the Greens website.
“I will be out in the community, listening and providing solutions to your problems.
“I will hold a hose if there is a fire, a spanner if something needs fixing, a hammer if something needs building; I can help the sick when they are in need and the elderly when they fall.
“I have a wide breadth of skills, a strong voice and the ability to listen – this will allow me to represent you, the people of the Cook electorate.”
While Mr Miller’s identified policy priorities aligned with the Greens’ statewide focus, rather than specific Cape York and Torres Strait issues, his profile also commits to delivering “more funding for our arts and music festivals, and children’s sport across The Cape, and improved access to tertiary education in remote areas”.
Mr Miller did not respond to requests from Cape York Weekly for an interview about his candidacy.
