Queensland candidate campaigns in bikini to draw out voters on Australia Day

A candidate for the seat of Ipswich in the upcoming Queensland election has donned a bikini in public to draw attention to her race.

Dr Patricia Petersen – a 51-year-old former model and  lecturer in economics and politics and a Fellow at the University of Melbourne - said she wanted to convey her national pride on Australia Day.

“I’m really, genuinely proudly Australian, I know it sounds dorky but I am.”

Dr Peterson said the response to her outfit, which included a blue bikini, thongs and board-shorts branded with the Australian flag, and a hat, zinc and temporary tattoos of the Australian flag, was “overwhelmingly positive”.

She added that voters weren’t interested in discussing politics.

“One woman came up to me with her little girl, and she said ‘My girl would like to look like you!’ So I helped do her up with zinc and temporary tattoos and everything, and they walked away so happy,” she said.

She said she thought of the idea in commiseration with voters who would rather be enjoying time off and celebrating on the national public holiday.

“It was my idea, completely. I just thought about what it means to be Australian, and the fact that people are voting on Australia Day for the first time, when they’d prefer to be doing something else,” Dr Peterson told 9news.com.au.

“People didn’t want to be there voting, they wanted to go over to the sausages on the barbie, you know.

“On Australia Day most people want to be at the beach, or drinking beer or wine with their friends, not voting.”

The Queensland state election will take place on Saturday 31 January.