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

Tim Lavers is the Animal Justice Party's candidate for Cunningham, the Commonwealth Electoral Division covering most of the Wollongong LGA, from Helensburgh to Windang and Unanderra. 

To enrol to vote or update your details, visit the Australian Electoral Commission's website.

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

My wife and I have lived in the Illawarra for about the last 30 years and have raised our family here.

I’ve worked as a software engineer for most of this period, in start-ups, big corporations, government, and now in a medical research charity.

A perfect day for me involves a run, a swim at the beach, lots of music, and time with family and friends.

What inspired you to enter politics?

I’ve always been interested in economics and public policy. When I found out about the Animal Justice Party, I was inspired to join. Our policies are based on the principles of kindness, equality, rationality, and non-violence. This fits perfectly with my world view.

I’ve seen how our effective our state MLC, Emma Hurst, is in making a difference for people and animals. This has inspired me to take the step of running for a seat in Canberra.

What would be your top 3 priorities if elected?

Our Veticare policy is a direct response to the cost-of-living crisis. Too many Australians are having to take the heartbreaking decision to surrender their pets because they cannot afford vet bills. At the same time, a recent NSW Parliamentary inquiry has highlighted the stress that the vet profession is under. This is partly due to a shortage of vets and vet nurses. People are leaving the profession because of high stress and financial precarity. Our policy will reduce financial stress for concession card holders and other low-income households by subsidising vet care. There will be direct benefits for vets too, as we will reimburse them for the treatment of wildlife and unhoused companion animals.

We would also reform the tax system so that work is taxed less and income from assets and monopolies is taxed more. The changes we propose will make housing affordable for most Australians, as it used to be, but will not crash the property market, which would be a disaster for people paying off mortgages. We will also remove regressive taxes like payroll tax – why should businesses be punished for employing people? These changes are along the lines of the Henry Tax Review of 2010 and are strongly supported by mainstream economists.

Finally, we have a series of policies designed to reduce the impact of our current food system on animals and the environment. These include subsidies for the rollout of robots and AI in farms. This will address the lack of farm labour, which is a major problem for producers. We would also support research and development of the new alternative proteins industry. This has the promise of providing people with familiar foods but with a fraction of the environmental impact of factory farming and with no animal suffering.

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

I would fast-track the development of floating offshore wind power.

This is a tremendous economic opportunity for the Illawarra.

There is no evidence that offshore wind would harm whales, or disrupt surf conditions, or block the sunrise.

I do agree that seeing wind turbines from the beach might be annoying, but what are the alternatives? If we keep burning coal, the ice caps will melt, our city will be submerged, and whales will become extinct. If we rely on solar farms, they will need to be connected to our city by huge and ugly power lines, plus they will need battery backup. Nuclear is another option, but it seems very expensive and lacks community support.

To offset any damage to the Illawarra’s popularity as a tourist destination, I would invest heavily in building lots of walking and cycling trails in the escarpment. We could attract visitors who would spend a day on the trails, a night on the town, and then a day on the beach.

I know that the wind farm is a hot-button issue and that many will disagree with me on it. I respect that and suggest that voters ask each candidate for a clearly stated position on this issue.

Why are you the best person for the job?

There aren’t enough engineers in parliament!

As a software engineer, I need to listen to clients, ask lots of questions, and then build a product that meets their needs. It’s a very creative and human centric way of working. When building a system, we engineers need to constantly test it so that we know that it’s working as intended. If it doesn't work properly, we must accept the evidence and fix the problem. This facts-based approach to problem solving is something that we need more of in Canberra.

I’m passionate about the Illawarra. It’s where my wife and I chose to live and raise our kids. But this beautiful part of the world is under threat from climate breakdown. As seas rise and storms get stronger, our beaches will get washed away. On land, the entire escarpment will become a huge fire risk during prolonged dry spells and heatwaves. The AJP is the only party that treats this threat as the emergency it is. We are not afraid to point out that the climate cannot be saved without addressing the issue of methane emissions from farming. We are the only party standing in Cunningham that are signatories to the Climate Rescue Accord.

There are also difficult economic problems facing our society. For the past 30 years, there’s been a widening gap between the super-rich and the rest of us. This is most obvious with housing, but it affects other areas of the economy too. I want us to return to being a society in which most people can afford to buy a home. The AJP proposes a tax shift that is endorsed by most economists. This will gradually bring house prices down to a sane level while reducing the tax burden on working Australians.

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 Carol Berry, Labor candidate for Whitlam
• Q&A with Ben Britton, Liberal candidate for Whitlam
• Q&A with Katrina Hodgkinson, the Nationals candidate for Whitlam