Diane Teasdale is an independent candidate for the seat of Shepparton in the upcoming state election. She holds firm cultural views and wants to ban the burqa, reduce immigration, stop funding for multiculturalism, prevent non-Australians from buying property, and ban abortion. During a visit to her home, Teasdale discussed her conservative social views on issues like feminism, Islam, and multiculturalism. She believes Australia's infrastructure cannot support recent immigration increases and that immigrants must adopt Australian culture.

1. 6 NEWS WEEKEND NEWS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2014
State Election 2014
Firm cultural viewsINDEPENDENT CANDIDATE DISCUSSES HER PERSPECTIVE ON WIDE RANGE OF SOCIAL ISSUES
Cuddly companion: Independent candidate for Shepparton Diane Teasdale with her pet cat
Charlotte.
Family: Diane Teasdale with her daughter Angie Ciavarella and
grandson Lucas.
Green thumb: Aside from enjoying politics, Ms Teasdale is also
a keen gardener.
Studies: Ms Teasdale
researching family history.
Fancy fingers: Ms Teasdale tries her hand at some beading.
She wants to ban the burqa,
reduce immigration to
Australia, stop taxpayers
funding the ‘‘multiculturalism
industry’’, stop non-
Australians from buying
property and ban abortion.
I expected Diane Teasdale’s
home to have an Australian
flag staked in the garden and
the doorbell that played the
national anthem, but it was
different than that.
Her whole front room was
filled with boxes of beads —
her daughter Angie runs her
beading business from the
house — and women were
sitting around a table
patiently making jewellery
and chatting.
Her two smoky-grey cats
were stretched out on chairs
and a sleeping grandson
occupied the couch.
The kitchen was dark, but the
table was illuminated by a
bright light that shone on
newspaper clippings of her
father and pages printed off
the internet containing
research of local issues.
I went to sit down on one
chair, but I was asked to sit on
a different chair.
I politely refused a tea or
coffee.
Diane Teasdale claimed she
was not xenophobic and took
everyone at face value .
‘‘My mother and father had
good friends who were
Chinese and Angie had a local
Chinese girl come to her
classes and a local lady from
Nigeria,’’ she said.
‘‘I had no problem with that.
‘‘I grew up with an Italian
uncle . . . and I have woggie
grandkids.’’
The 66-year-old retired
retailer has three sons: Tyler
and Sean, 48, and Bradley,
44, a daughter Angie, 36, and
12 grandchildren.
‘‘We are very family
orientated,’’ she said.
At the weekends she enjoys
when the family gets together
and there was always a
birthday or special event to
celebrate.
Many of her family members
live in Shepparton, so she
feels personally invested in
the region.
Ms Teasdale said she had
been a ‘‘political animal’’ for
the past 35 years and had
been connected with
Australia First, Australian
Democrats and Katter’s
Australian Party.
She still admires federal MP
Bob Katter, who ‘‘has a
passion for getting Australia
back on track’’.
In Ms Teasdale’s kitchen she
displays a sign, ‘‘Women who
aspire to equal to men lack
ambition’’.
‘‘I come from a background of
outspoken women,’’ she said.
‘‘Mum didn’t tell me women
were inferior, so I didn’t know
any different.
‘‘I come from a generation
where women were
respected.’’
When asked if she was a
feminist, Ms Teasdale firmly
denied the allegation.
‘‘I don’t like the feminists I’ve
met,’’ she said.
When asked to define the
term she said, ‘‘Oh, you are
putting me on the spot’’.
‘‘If I was around with the
suffragettes, I’d have been
out there fighting.’’
‘‘Liberated women have
liberated ourselves into
slavery — we have a worse
deal now than we ever had.’’
‘‘I’m anti-abortion,’’ she
exclaimed.
‘‘They kill 60 babies a year
from late-term abortions.’’
She said she wanted all
abortions — regardless of
how old the foetus was —
banned in Victoria.
When asked if she would
make an exception for rape
victims, she said, ‘‘It’s very
rare for someone who was
raped to get pregnant
statistically’’.
‘‘(Pregnant rape victims)
should have the baby and
have it adopted out,’’ she
said.
When asked about her
concern for a woman’s
emotional and mental welfare
if they were to carry the child,
she said they would endure
the same emotional turmoil
from a termination.
She said her views were in the
minority and expected to lose
some female votes because
of her anti-abortion views.
Ms Teasdale said she ‘‘was
not fond of the Islamic
religion because of its
attitude to women’’.
‘‘They treat women inferior to
men,’’ she said.
When asked if she had any
Muslim friends, she said she
did not, but later in the
interview she said she went to
school with Albanian Muslims
who she believed integrated
with Australian culture better
than recent muslim
immigrants.
‘‘I’d ban the burqa — I don’t
mind the head thing,’’ she
said, making shapes with her
fingers across her eyes
indicating she meant the
niqub.
‘‘The first mistake we made
was allowing Muslim girls to
go to school with
headscarves on.’’
When asked how she feels
Muslim voters would feel
about her views, she said ‘‘I
don’t care if they don’t like
it.’’
I asked Ms Teasdale how she
would feel if she was told
what to wear and she looked
at me without a word.
‘‘If I said, ‘You are not allowed
to wear a top like that,’ how
would you feel?’’ I asked.
‘‘I’d say, ‘thanks’. I’m not
narcissistic. Do you know
what narcissistic is?’’
Ms Teasdale said she was
‘‘against multiculturalism as
an industry’’.
She said she was happy for
foreigners to have links with
their own heritage, but did not
want to ‘‘use taxpayers
money to encourage people
to keep their own culture’’.
‘‘I don’t care so I say it,’’ she
said.
‘‘We have a society that
bullies people into silence.
‘‘A lot of people have disquiet
about what’s going on.’’
She said Australia did not
have the infrastructure to
deal with recent immigration
rises.
‘‘I have no problem with
people coming from different
countries if they make
Australia home,’’ she said.
‘‘They need to become
Australian’’.
Ms Teasdale said she
opposed non-Australians
owning their own homes, but
was especially concerned
about foreign ownership of
farms.
‘‘I just don’t think it’s right, it
should stay in Australia’s
hands,’’ she said.
She fears foreign ownership
of farms will result in a food
being exported from the
district.
‘‘The Chinese farm
differently, I know they won’t
keep the quality,’’ she said.
She felt labour would be
imported from overseas,
leaving local people at a
disadvantage.
Ms Teasdale would like to
reinstate the State Bank to
‘‘provide quality finance for
farmers’’.
‘‘It can be done through state
government,’’ she said.
She admitted it may take
more than one term in office
to make that happen.
Being a cattle farmer through
the beef cattle crash in the
late 1970s, she believed she
related well to farmers.
Ms Teasdale has strong
views on genetically modified
crops and wants them
banned.
‘‘I believe they are
dangerous, we need to test
them,’’ she said.
She said farmers made more
money from non-GM food
and wants food labels that
clearly state the origin of the
product.
She is ‘‘pro-organics’’ and
refuses to drink
Shepparton’s tapwater, she
only drinks a specific brand
of mineral water.
‘‘I’m not a greenie, I don’t
believe in climate change,’’
she said.
Ms Teasdale said she did not
trust the Bureau of
Meteorology’s figures.
With the state election
taking place on
November 29, News
journalist ELAINE
COONEY has visited
the candidates in their
homes. As well as
learning what they
stand for, she gets an
exclusive glimpse of
their private worlds.
Today, independent
candidate for the seat
of Shepparton Diane
Teasdale is in the
spotlight.