The Pauline Hanson’s One Nation candidate for Gladstone, Amy Lohse, is something of a mystery woman.
Schooled via distance education, firstly at Charleville and then Capricornia, Amy is playing her cards close to her chest.
Apart from a standard statement for her campaign Facebook page, shared word for word when the Queensland Country Life asked for more information, not much else is known about her.
She didn’t reply to our email asking her age, but she is believed to be in her early twenties.
Her mother, Sharon Lohse is the One Nation candidate for the neighbouring electorate of Callide, after first announcing that she would represent the party in Warrego, and the pair launched their campaigns together last week.
Amy comes from a beef grazing background and a family contract fencing business, which she said gave her good time management skills.
She said it was a “natural progression” to go on the road herself as a contractor, completing her Year 12 studies via the Brisbane School of Distance Education.
“I worked for agricultural companies throughout western Queensland, the Gulf Country and the Northern Territory, around the Barkly Tableland, Tennant Creek and Borroloola,” she said. “ I strongly believe in the importance of available employment for young people starting out in life.”
Amy said her political bug started biting when she was invited to attend the National Rural Women’s Coalition Muster, at Parliament House in Canberra last year.
“This shifted my focus into the political arena, firstly assisting my mother with her campaign in Callide and now taking the opportunity to represent Gladstone.
“I can not only be the voice of this rural and regional seat, but have a true understanding of what young people face starting out, and finding a positive direction in life, with employment opportunities.”
Saying she has had no fixed residential address from the age of 16, Amy said if she were successful at the election, she was looking forward to living near her great-grandfather’s property at Butlerville, near Gladstone.
The sitting member for the seat is the ALP’s Glenn Butcher, who holds it with a 25 per cent margin.
He is second on the voting ticket, behind the LNP’s Chay Conaglen and before The Greens’ Peta Baker and Amy, who has fourth spot.
This election sees the return of full preferential voting, which could complicate results. One Nation’s policy is to preference sitting members last.