It's hard to believe Ben Buckley is 82.

He looks like a crusty old fart, or so he's been told, but he's full of aspiration.

He's a man who may or may not have flown a plane upside down under a bridge, landed and refuelled that same plane at a service station, and doused the local football team in fertiliser — from the air.

At home, he has unpaid bills on his kitchen table, a cat, a rose garden and a daughter who brings him lamb chops for dinner.

He's also the only politician in Australia who won't vote for himself.

A controversial 'local hero'

Ben Buckley is East Gippsland's most popular Shire councillor.

He's been in local politics for around 40 years — during which time he's been elected, sacked and re-elected.

He is currently just back from suspension after having been found guilty of "serious misconduct" over a confidentiality breach.

Councillor Buckley has a long history in politics, spanning four decades. ( ABC RN: Lyn Gallacher )

In the 2016 East Gippsland council elections, his vote count was easily ahead of all the other councillors, almost 9 per cent of the overall ballot.

But despite his popularity, he remains a divisive character.

His critics see him as a loose cannon, a pain in the neck, and someone with odd opinions who they would gladly silence.

His supporters, meanwhile, see him as a free-wheeling, free-thinking Australian politician — the kind who ascribes to a brand of anti-establishmentarian attitudes so popular in the bush.

Hang on, a politician who doesn't vote?

For Cr Buckley, refusing to vote is a personal decision, based on principle.

"I'd like to be able to vote. But, I can't because it's illegal. And the system that supports it is corrupt," he says.

He sees it as illegal because he equates compulsory voting as coercion.

When pressed further on this logic, Cr Buckley dips into an old flight bag — the one where he used to keep his maps for aerial navigation — and pulls out a battered copy of the Australian constitution.

"If I vote I am accepting the coercion. But the coercer has committed the crime, and that's the electoral officer, because he has demanded that I vote," he says.

"He can say that's not quite true, all you have to do is register, but you've been coerced into expressing an opinion, which is still a crime."

Councillor Buckley's unpaid fines sit in his kitchen. ( ABC RN: Lyn Gallacher )

Instead of voting, Cr Buckley pays the fine — sometimes. In 2016, just after the federal poll, he ended up in the Omeo Magistrates Court.

Failing to provide a valid reason for not voting attracted a $100 fine, plus another $79.50 in costs, a sum he refuses to pay.

Instead, he pins the fine to his wall and waits for the Electoral Office to act.

But it leaves him in the difficult position of having to ask the public to vote for him, when he won't vote for himself.

And some locals say they are "sick" of voting for Cr Buckley.

As one punter at Benambra Pub puts it: "Ben is good for the area, but why should I vote for him, if he won't bloody vote for himself? Not this time."

Footballer and firefighter

But his long history of community involvement could explain why some voters continue to mark the box next to his name on the ballot paper.

A crop duster from the high country, Cr Buckley was an agricultural pilot living in the town of Benambra, near the NSW-Victorian border. And before he was involved with politics, he was passionate about football.

When he first moved to Benambra he joined the local footy club — first as a player, then becoming president. To this day, he is a goal umpire.

But Cr Buckley was also a big contributor to the other major community activity: firefighting.

Benambra was the site of the first official fire-bombing operation in Victoria, and Cr Buckley's company, Alpine Aviation, played a central role.

Not only was Cr Buckley one of those dropping the retardant ahead of the flames, but he also ferried other fire crews to the front and, with his family, turned his home into a wayside stop for those escaping the flames.

During one disaster, a sign on his fence, written in texta on a plastic ice-cream lid, proclaimed his house to be the "Benambra Refugee Centre".

'It's made me stronger'

ABC Gippsland's Breakfast presenter Jonathon Kendall says whenever Cr Buckley is on the air lots of callers ring in to support him.

"Stick it to them, Ben," some say.

Ben Buckley leaving the Omeo Magistrates Court in 2017. ( ABC News: Melinda Ogden )

One reason is that the East Gippsland Shire Council has been criticised for being one of the most secretive shire councils in Victoria: a Fairfax investigation found nearly 42 per cent of East Gippsland's meetings were held behind closed doors between 2016 and 2017.

It drives Cr Buckley berserk. He wants the public to know what happens at meetings; it's this zeal for transparency that led to his suspension last year, after he leaked confidential details to the media of a $16,000 conflict-management program for the council.

He is one of those people who fundamentally and cantankerously believes in less, rather than more, government.

"Government should only do what people cannot do for themselves," he's fond of saying.

It's a sentiment that has been in the Australian psyche for decades and, who knows, it may continue to influence the outcome of many more elections long after this old maverick has gone.

But Cr Buckley says he's not going to stop fighting — in spite of his prostate cancer, a heart condition and the old, nagging Pott's fracture in his right ankle (caused by a bad landing after a parachute jump).

For the moment, Cr Buckley is carrying on. When he considers his setbacks, he cackles.

"It's made me stronger," he says.

"And if they throw me into jail, well then, my daughter won't have to bring me dinner anymore."