WITH the election happening this Saturday, November 24, The Adviser caught up with the candidates and asked them a list of questions to find out why the community should elect them.
Labor Candidate for Shepparton, Bill Heath
- What do you think you could bring to the region if elected?
Having grown up in the area and having been at different times a veterinarian, seminarian, teacher and farmer, I would bring an understanding of a broad range of the issues and concerns that impact the lives of people in the region.
And given the likelihood of a returned Labor Government for Victoria and a Federal Labor Government early next year, my election would bring the absolute attention of both levels of government and most likely an avalanche of funding for the Shepparton district.
- What are your main points that you would focus on if elected?
Our local economy is based on irrigated agriculture and must remain strong, so our farmers need access to reasonably priced water. Labor has proposed strict conditions required for any further recovery of water for the environment to avoid negative socioeconomic impacts on the farming and wider community.
Beyond securing our water, I would promote programs to increase the profitability of dryland and irrigated agriculture, in times of both low and high allocations, to ensure our region remains competitive with other irrigating regions. Unless our agricultural systems become more profitable, we will be outcompeted for water by downstream irrigation areas, further reducing local production, increasing distribution and delivery costs on our remaining irrigators and exacerbating the negative impacts of ‘unseasonal’ flows down the Goulburn River.
I would ensure that struggling and disadvantaged individuals, especially vulnerable children, together with working families, migrants, refugees and ordinary people all have a genuine chance to share in the wealth and opportunity of our country.
I would give particular attention to the voices of Indigenous members of our community, acknowledging that many of their difficulties and much of the prosperity of non-Indigenous Australians are both founded significantly on Aboriginal dispossession.
- What do you think are the main issues facing the area right now?
We are incredibly fortunate to live in a region where many people enjoy a high standard of living, but there are threats to our continued prosperity.
Whether you accept the current scientific consensus (which I do) or not, Australia’s climate is already highly variable, and drought is a regular rather than an exceptional feature of our landscape. As such, we must learn to manage our agricultural and natural systems so that we can avoid disaster when seasons fail, while making the most of good seasons and any water available.
Globalization, characterised by the ease of movement of goods and the actual or virtual movement of labour, is a profoundly disruptive feature of our time; think container ships and off-shore call centres and car making as examples. As a stable and democratic society with access to high quality education, we are ideally placed to move towards the production and export of higher value goods and services. At the same time, we must be aware of the negative consequences of choosing imported goods and services based on minor price benefits.
As fewer jobs are available for relatively low skilled labour, we are in danger of creating a working/not working division in society. The risk of entrenched intergenerational unemployment and the associated negatives impacts on individuals and society will rise with increased automation and the use of artificial intelligence. We must realise that all our futures are inseparably linked and work together to ensure there is meaningful employment available for all.
The Shepparton Education Plan; the Labor Government is poised to make a once in a generation improvement to our local educational institutions. While the changes will ultimately be transformative, the transition to a new educational system will be necessarily disruptive and potentially destabilizing.
- What is your future vision for the region?
My vision is for a safer, fairer, more prosperous and more sustainable community, that takes collective responsibility for raising the next generation and preserving an environment for them to enjoy. I will work to ensure all children and their parents are supported from ‘conception to career’, giving each person a genuine opportunity to realize their potential. With a redeveloped GV Health, improved rail, a new SAM, better schools and a thriving economy, Shepparton will become an even more attractive place for Victorians to call home.
- What is your point of difference compared to other candidates?
I represent an organisation which was founded to protect the interests of workers and their families. Labor is delivering for all Victorians, and we do this by attending to the needs of ordinary people, especially the most vulnerable. This means a focus on employment and public health, education and transport. Over the past four years, the Andrew’s Labor Government has been good news for the people of the region and as the newly-elected Labor member in a re-elected Labor Government, that good news would be guaranteed to keep coming.
