Torquay software developer joins Corangamite race

TORQUAY local and software developer Dr Harley Mackenzie has thrown his hat in the ring for the hotly contested federal seat of Corangamite, campaigning on drug reform.

A member of the Legalise Cannabis Party, which successfully won two upper house seats at the 2022 state election, Dr Mackenzie said there had been a groundswell of support for the legalisation of cannabis in recent years.

He said it was his frustration at the lack of action from the country’s major political parties that had motivated him to run.

“It’s not about promoting cannabis, it’s about the fact that we believe wrecking people’s lives because they’re doing something that has no harm to anybody else is probably not the way to go.

“We need to send a message. This is something that needs to be done. It’s not something to keep being kicked down the road.”

 

 

He pointed to the ACT, which changed its laws in 2020 to allow the possession and growth of small amounts of cannabis for personal use, as a “very good model” for the legalisation of the substance.

Legalisation, Dr Mackenzie said, would ensure a more effective use of the country’s limited resources, particularly police resources, greater accessibility for currently cost-prohibitive medicinal cannabis treatments, and provide a variety of agricultural and economic opportunities.

Dr Mackenzie is also advocating for additional funds to be put towards harm reduction, mental harm and addiction services and wants to see the nation begin treating the use of other illicit drugs as “a health problem, not a criminal problem”.

A small business owner with a background in mechanical engineering, Dr Mackenzie has more than 40 years’ experience in the Australian energy industry, cited renewable energy as a passion, and holds a PhD in applied mathematics.

He is the seventh candidate to enter the race for Corangamite, joining the Libertarian Party’s Paul Barker, the Liberal Party’s Darcy Dunston, the Greens’ Mitch Pope, Voices for Corangamite’s Kate Lockhart, incumbent Labor MP Libby Coker, who has held the seat since 2019, and One Nation’s Colin Seabrook.