With the Federal Election fast approaching, United Australia Party leader Craig Kelly paid a visit to Mount Gambier last week during his federal election campaign trail.

Mr Kelly was accompanied by UAP Barker candidate David Swiggs and SA senate candidate Caelum Schild.

Mr Kelly spoke to the media during a press conference at the Cave Gardens before heading across to Jens Hotel to speak to the public, outline his policies and answer questions.

Mr Kelly said the UAP would offer a 20% tax deduction for people living over 200km from major cities.

“That’s only fair, because someone living in the cities gets greater access to services and hospitals than someone living in the regions,” he said.

Mr Kelly said regional areas needed to be strengthened across the country and his party wanted to give regional businesses the opportunities that those in metropolitan areas had.

“The businesses come, it creates the opportunity for people to come and live in these regions,” he said.

Mr Kelly also stated the UAP would introduce a 15% export licence for all Australian iron ore exports.

He said this would increase the money available for governments to invest in areas such as Mount Gambier and would also enable them to increase aged pensions by $180 a fortnight.

Mr Kelly said this increase would help ensure people who were retired and living on a pension had a high quality of life and would ease the cost of living pressures, therefore enabling greater expenditure in local businesses.

“We have seen the inflation rate today, the main costs of transportation and food, they have been the big increase in costs for people, that really hurts people on aged pensions,” he said.

A further issue Mr Kelly said the UAP wanted to address was housing affordability.

“We have seen in our major cities, a generation of young Australians being denied the opportunity to own their own home, and that’s been the Australian dream for decades,” he said.

“We want to see that dream re-ignited.”