Ahead of the 2025 Federal Election, the Illawarra Flame is giving all local candidates a chance to share their vision for Australia.

Alexis Garnaut-Miller, the Australian Citizens Party's candidate for Cunningham, the Commonwealth Electoral Division covering most of the Wollongong LGA, from Helensburgh to Windang and Unanderra. 

The election will be held on Saturday, May 3. For more information, visit the Australian Electoral Commission's website.

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Wollongong is one of the world's most vibrant, beautiful places to bring up a family and as a nature-lover, it's the ideal quality of life with both mountains and sea.

I'm always incredibly busy and enjoy a full work-life. Being in my 50's means I have lived a lot of life and have a lot of skills. My lifelong passion has been to support people and I have been fortunate to enjoy my long-term work in Human Resources, change management and leadership development across diverse industries. Having worked in Asia and UK, I bring a unique worldview to what is possible for our country. 

I've had a longstanding commitment to national volunteerism. Recent roles have been national VP for Neighbourhood Connect, now part of Relationships Australia. VP for Australia's largest organic and farm fresh growers collective for food security, Dapto Community Farm. Help support at Coomaditchie Permaculture Gardens in Port Kembla. Co-founder of Be Ballsy men's mental health programs out of iAccelerate at University of Wollongong. Involved in projects supporting young women YWCA including was a chapter Chair overseas. And always happy to roll up my sleeves and help in community where my skills and expertise can be put to good use, to benefit others!

Having had to close a small business during Covid, and like many needing to reshape my worklife, I retrained as a mature-age female Carpenter alongside my ongoing remote Human Resources and leadership development work.

Politics is an extension of that work, being the policy-shaping and future planning that impacts at population level. 

What inspired you to enter politics?

With over 30 years' experience in Human Resources and working with vast numbers of diverse people from all cultures around change management, it was natural to want to give back in a meaningful way to the broader community and contribute to the future of our lucky country.

I stood for Cunningham in the 2022 federal election. Since then, my work with Citizens Party has contributed to meaningful progress with the regional banking enquiry, public postal bank and future energy directions in the past 3 years. Dr Andy Schmulow from University of Wollongong, Australia’s top legal and financial expert, is also standing for Senate NSW to ensure systemic change to our economic outcomes and balance of power in Parliament.

What would be your top 3 priorities if elected?

• Cost of Living can be reduced by helping families keep more of their hard-earned money in their pocket. Our commitment at Australian Citizens Party is to break up the Coles-Woolworth duopoly and restore supermarket competition which will bring down prices. Only Dr Andy Schmulow has the legal and financial expertise to ensure this happens for the greater good.
• Mental Health provision needs to expand, to make it easier to get support when and where it is needed. Cunningham has a strong base of mental health services, that can be expanded with greater resourcing. There are many under-employed mental health workers and providers who can be better engaged to deliver services with more flexible engagement terms both in-person, on demand and online. Establishing a public bank with low fixed-rate mortgages, will help deliver capital directly to social need instead of big-bank shareholders. Funding is one of the main problems to overcome in mental health provision. Major parties are not talking about where money will come from to fund their election promises but we have a specific, uniting plan.
• Financial Hardship and Inclusion is directly related to education access, under-employment, full-time employment opportunities and rising cost-of-living. These are serious to critical issues we must address quickly. According to the Salvation Army, though the overall child poverty rate in NSW is 15.1 per cent, it is much higher in some areas, for example the area of Port Kembla-Warrawong in Cunningham, where the child poverty rate is 24.8 per cent. Roughly 7,265 people living in Cunningham are reliant on JobSeeker or Youth Allowance. The rates of both these payments are demonstrably too low and have the unintended consequence of trapping people in poverty. Developing Cunningham into a hub of world-class education, training, free TAFE, trades pathways and advanced manufacturing will bring multiple benefits to this complex problem.

If you could deliver one key local project in your term, what would it be?

Cunningham has a rich history of being a highly productive economy. Harnessing the depth of skills, talents and human resources is our greatest opportunity to revitalise jobs and advanced manufacturing for greater prosperity for the wider community. 

The one key local project I'd focus on developing is a world-class "Advanced Manufacturing Hub" in conjunction with Bluescope Steel and the University of Wollongong. 

This would be a comprehensive solution to many of our social challenges including pathways for jobs, upskilling, learning trades, developing innovative technologies and building materials to support localised home-building and becoming a centre of excellence to help lift the economic opportunities and prosperity for all citizens in our region.   

Why are you the best person for the job?

Change of leadership can be a catalyst for bringing a fresh view to what is possible for Cunningham and our nation. With over a third of voters looking for alternatives to the major parties, our hardworking research, policy and legislation-writing team are the backbone of helping speed up better outcomes for Australia that are focussed on the greater good rather than being stymied by vested interests. My experience and worldview, years of political volunteerism and community leadership gives voters another experienced option to consider when they vote each election. 

Life is always better when we cooperate and collaborate to improve outcomes for the entire community, regardless of what political perspectives anyone brings to the table. I look forward to serving my community regardless, for many years to come.

Read more

The Illawarra Flame puts the same questions to all candidates, giving everyone a chance to share their vision for Australia.

• Q&A with Amanda Ivaneza, Liberal candidate for Cunningham 
• Q&A with Jess Whittaker, Greens candidate for Cunningham 
• Q&A with Alison Byrnes, the current Labor MP for Cunningham
• Q&A with Tim Lavers, the Animal Justice Party's candidate for Cunningham
• Q&A with Alexis Garnaut-Miller, the Australian Citizens Party's candidate for Cunningham
• Q&A with Carol Berry, Labor candidate for Whitlam
• Q&A with Nathaniel Smith, Liberal candidate for Whitlam
• Q&A with Jamie Dixon, Greens candidate for Whitlam
• Q&A with Sharon Cousins, One Nation candidate for Whitlam

List updated May 2, 2025