THE CountryMinded candidate for Maranoa is incredibly concerned at the state of rural Queensland’s internet infrastructure, saying it is even affecting his ability to run a campaign.

Speaking at the Roma Saleyards on Tuesday, Condamine farmer Luke Arbuckle said one of the main issues the CountryMinded party will focus on is improving the telecommunications in the electorate.

“Even as we are trying to manage a campaign we struggle with internet issues trying to get photos and such organised and trying to make phone calls,” Mr Arbuckle said.

“So it’s obviously a big issue in our electorate and it affects our safety and it flows on to so many other areas which affects the productivity of our region.”

Mr Arbuckle believes the current announcement for 4G towers to be put in 135 spots across regional areas will not solve the problem.

“These plans aren’t focussing on the actual issues. It doesn’t benefit anyone except Telstra, who is going to be selling more data, and it’s not going to be actually helping anyone who lives in the area,” Mr Arbuckle said.

Mr Arbuckle has a clear passion for supporting agriculture and regional issues based on his experience.

“We are just trying to get our message out, [and] we are not doing this just for this one election,” he said.

“We are a party that is only a couple of months old but as we have been on the campaign trail the amount of people that are ready for some action from someone outside of the big parties is huge.”

Providing an alternative to the major political parties was the drive behind the establishment of the party.

“The main parties are more interested in themselves than our policy outcomes for Australia,” Mr Arbuckle said.

“They oppose any policy regardless of whether it’s good for the economy and they oppose it based on the fact that it wasn’t their policy, therefore it would look bad if they supported it.

“They are not out for the actual people in the region.”