Mandurah Damian Grimes set to run as independent candidate for Federal seat of Canning

While the upcoming Federal election is yet to be announced, Mr Grimes has announced he intends to run as an independent candidate. 

A scaffolder and rigger by trade, Mr Grimes said it was the events surrounding the birth of his daughter which made him think about entering politics. 

“When my partner gave birth to our daughter Zoe – it was here at Mandurah hospital – she haemorrhaged and lost 4.8 litres of blood,” he said.

“The hospital staff were excellent and all that but they don't have an ICU ward so we had to go to Fiona Stanley Hospital – her in one ambulance, Zoe in the other and myself had to follow after 24 hours of being here in Mandurah.”

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Mr Grimes said the experience made him think about the role which the government plays, and how they allocate funds. 

It led him to research into hospital resourcing, and he said he believed more funding needed to be put into hospitals across the country. 

“It really made me think: ‘What are they really doing for us? Where does our Medicare Levy actually go?’,” he said. 

“I thought: ‘What if I could make a difference?’

“I just don't like how the government have decided to – I'd call it – turn their back on Australians.

“They're just not spending the money where it should be spent.” 

Despite Mr Grimes’ stance on health funding, he said it was his stance on tax laws which was his key platform. 

He believed the laws needed to change and “no one’s really addressing them”.

“They still don't tax the larger companies,” he said. 

“And I'd like to tax churches, who earn a lot of money. We don't have to tax them a massive amount.

“They're about helping people – the churches – by taxing them, they'd be helping people anyway. It would be spent on people; not on projects.

“We have a lot of homeless people and a lot of youth who deserve a better chance so community facilities; even if the money is just spent on that.”