A "PERILOUS economic state", the country's debt, helping in a cost of living crisis and a desire to champion free speech are driving Terri Pryse-Smith to run in the federal seat of Ballarat for the second time.

In 2025, Ms Pryse-Smith will be running for Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, but was endorsed by Clive Palmer's United Australia Party in 2022.

Ms Pryse-Smith said she thought Clive Palmer did a "fantastic job" but her supporters wanted to go with a different "freedom-friendly minor party".

"I felt like I had to stand up and represent a political party that I admire very much. I've been a big fan of Pauline for many, many years."

Ms Pryse-Smith said "freedom-friendly minor [parties]" stood up for freedom of speech, which she felt had been taken away ever since COVID-19 lockdowns, particularly when people said no to vaccination mandates.

She said this experience drove her to run in the 2022 election, but had been "yelling at the television for many years before that".

The former English teacher turned business and vet owner said cost of living, debt and energy were important issues facing the Ballarat electorate.

"When we run our businesses, we keep our books steady and we're always in the black," she said.

Ms Pryse-Smith said the country did not need to work towards net-zero goals because "climate change is a scam".

"We're shutting down coal-fired power stations, we need cheap, reliable, dispatchable coal-fired power and we're sitting on an ocean of gas now," she said.

"We should be securing gas reserves - that alone would save billions of dollars.

"People in the Ballarat electorate need to go and do a bit of research."

In the World Meteorological Organization's latest report, looking at the state of the global climate, 2024 was "the warmest year in the 175-year observational record", beating the previous record set in 2023.

Ms Pryse-Smith said she would support nuclear power in the medium to long term.

The Coalition's nuclear plan will cost $330 billion and take 10 years to start producing electricity.

She said stopping spending on climate change and the transition to renewable energy would mean money could be spent on other policies like "improving the integrity of Medicare" or helping pay university fees for young doctors.

When asked if this aligned with Labor's policies on Medicare and reducing university debt, Ms Pryse-Smith said she had not seen the benefits of these.

She said she wanted to cut government waste in programs like the National Indigenous Australians Agency and the National Disability Insurance Agency, adding there was a "lot of bureaucracy" that was blocking money from getting to people in need.

Ms Pryse-Smith said this would involve cutting waste, not jobs, but was also concerned about the number of public servants.

"I don't know what they're doing, but I know we're paying them all," she said.

The election is on May 3; early voting opens April 22.

There will be six other candidates: Liberal Paula Doran, Greens John Barnes, One Nation's Terri Pryse-Smith, Labor incumbent Catherine King, Luke Parker, Ryan Redfern for the Libertarian Party, which used to be called the Liberal Democrats, and Ian Harkness for the Family First Party.