FORMER AFP detective sergeant Jason Taylor is motivated by David Pocock’s recent Senate success at unseating a major-party candidate, and is hoping to tap into that voter sentiment when he contests a seat for the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Taylor, 40, served in the AFP for almost 14 years and experienced trauma as a result of an assault, which led to his subsequent resignation from the force. 

While attempting to intervene in a drunken brawl between a father and son in Gungahlin in 2020, Taylor suffered a near-death experience. 

“I was reaching for my handcuffs and the father put me in a chokehold and slammed me to the ground,” said Taylor.

“He was choking me and I couldn’t get him off.

“If it hadn’t been for my colleagues – who tasered him – I’d be dead.”

Taylor suffered badly in the aftermath of the attack and fell on hard times.

“I spent some time in mental-health facilities, and I attempted suicide twice,” he said.

He conceded that a career in policing was hard, and it had taken a personal toll on him.

“Policing does that to you,” he said.

“You go to someone’s worst day, four to five times a day, and if you don’t deal with it, it catches up with you.”

With the incident behind him, Taylor is now focused on securing a seat in the Assembly as a Belco Party candidate for Yerrabi.

The recent success of the rugby international Pocock in unseating the Liberal senator Zed Seselja has provided Taylor with the motivation to shake up the status quo.

“Traditionally, at a federal level, this has been a two-party town,” he said.

“But if you look at the result of the last federal election, and you look at David Pocock, there’s an appetite now within the ACT that independent or minor third-party candidates have an opportunity to get elected.”

Taylor is targeting the electorate of Yerrabi as his best chance to snare an Assembly seat at the 2024 election. 

The seat is currently represented by Labor’s Michael Pettersson and Suzanne Orr, Greens MLA Andrew Braddock, and Liberals James Milligan and Leanne Castley.

“We don’t have a minister out here in Yerrabi, so when big decisions are made about what impacts the community, we don’t have a seat at the table,” Taylor said.

Given the drubbing of the Liberals at the last election and returning the Labor government after 20 years, Taylor feels there is a real lack of accountability in the ACT.

“We have a Greens/Labor government that will walk anything through,” he said.

“If anything is put up that is contrary to their beliefs, it doesn’t get any traction.”

Taylor believes the Belco Party offers a real alternative to the current situation.

“The party’s adoption of the Australian Democrats’ mantra ‘Keep the bastards honest’ really resonates with me, because that’s what we are lacking in the Assembly,” he said. 

“We need to have strong and effective people on the cross bench.”

As a former police officer, Taylor has strong views about the recent adoption of the drug-decriminalisation Act. 

“These are terribly destructive drugs and the characterisation of them as recreational is dangerous, and the problem is there’s no cross-bench scrutiny so this legislation just got walked through,” he said.

He is equally concerned about the proposal to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14.

“My opinion is that we have a parliament that is more interested in boosting its progressive image, as opposed to investing in the infrastructure and programs that will actually make the intended purpose of this legislation successful.” 

One of his priorities will be calling for a full review of the judicial system in the ACT, in response to what he believes are inadequate sentencing guidelines. 

“The entire justice system from the directorate down needs to be looked at,” Taylor said. 

“And it should be a former High Court justice, or a chief justice from another jurisdiction that conducts the review, not someone in the ACT.”

Originally from Melbourne, Taylor settled in the ACT when he joined the police force.

As a former supporter of the Australian Democrats, he has always been interested in politics but never intended to become a candidate until now.

“What started to spark a fire in me was that the ACT deserved better than what it had right now,” said Taylor.

“We have a government that has stopped listening to the community.”

He is not short on confidence, believing he stands a good chance of succeeding in his bid to win a seat in Yerrabi. 

“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think I could get in,” he said.