Growing up on an orchard in Spreyton, the 26-year-old is married and works for Tasmania Fire Service's Bushfire Risk Unit, liaising with landowners and the Tasmanian community to undertake fuel reduction burns to mitigate the ongoing threat of bushfires.

He has worked as a firefighter for Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and to protect the state's fruit industry with Biosecurity Tasmania.

He has also worked for TasWater as a senior emergency management advisor providing safe drinking water during the initial COVID response.

READ MORE: Launceston council and Chamber of Commerce join to add more greenery to city

He is standing in the electorate of Bass for the United Australia Party, having previously been a long-term Liberal voter. He says he no longer identified with the party and joined with the UAP to "fight for the freedoms of all Australians".

"Until now I was always more of a Liberal supporter, but I have been quite disappointed by the Liberal Party over the last couple of years. I don't think they have the good old everyday Australian and small business owners at heart anymore. I feel they have been focusing more on big business," he said.

"They are not so much looking after families with small businesses who are just trying to get by. The other reason I joined is that I spent a fair amount of time with my Pop and he is nearly 80 and he tells all sorts of stories about what Australia was like when he was young.

"I was sitting there one day listening to him thinking what sort of story do I want to tell my grand kids in 50 years' time. It cemented the fact that I wanted to stand up for what I believe in and when I didn't think we were going down the right path as a country."

READ MORE: Teenager killed, driver taken to hospital after crash near Devonport

Mr Squibb said his main areas of concern include debt and housing, citing the pressure of mortgage repayments during COVID as a concern for Tasmanians.

"One thing we will deliver as a party policy is a 20 per cent tax concession for every Tasmanian resident and also every business that operates in Tasmania," he said.

"We want to put a cap on owner-occupier mortgages at 3 per cent for the next five years and that's to make sure that people who have bought houses in the last few years, especially during COVID, don't lose their home when interest rates rise. We want to make sure that people are able to repay their mortgages."

Mr Squibb said the main policy for the UAP was the repayment of national debt and said that both Liberal and Labor failed to address the trillions of dollars of national debt.

"We have a plan to pay back the entirety of the trillion-dollar debt within 15 to 20 years and that is through a 15 per cent iron ore excise tax which will be paid by the importers that buy Australian iron ore," he said.

"This is similar to what is done by a lot of other countries. This will mean we can invest $20 million into the education system in our first three years and $40 billion into health care."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

Follow us on Google News: The Examiner