Lou Costa runs as an independent candidate for the November state election
By Aaron Cordy
GREATER Shepparton has a new independent candidate in the upcoming State election this November. Voices for Goulburn Valley have endorsed Louise ‘Lou’ Costa as its Community Independent Candidate.
Lou grew up in Shepparton East amongst the orchards. She studied landscape architecture at RMIT, then returned to the Goulburn Valley where she started her business, Design by Nature, in 1998.
Passionate about community, Lou’s advocacy around the environment has led her to work with Landcare groups and VicRoads, among others. Community consultation is a big part of her plan for the region.
“Everything can be solved peacefully if you just talk to people and include them in the conversation. Engage them, explain why you’re doing things the way you’re doing them, find out if they have any insights or local knowledge that might influence the project, or improve the project. That’s really my passion,” said Lou.
Voices for Goulburn Valley conducted a community listening survey that will be the focus of Lou’s campaign. The top 10 priority issues raised in 2026 were: Cost of living, Healthcare, Climate change, Environmental issues, Social cohesion, Housing issues, Roads and transport, Integrity in politics, Education, and Crime and safety.
“I don’t think that the major parties are working for their communities. Independence is an old-fashioned way of politics. It’s the original way of politics, where there was parliament and a whole bunch of representatives of different communities coming together to talk about what they need money for. The party system hasn’t really been working for us. I don’t know how many people it is working for,” said Lou.
“I don’t think the government’s gonna pay that much attention to us if we keep voting the same way we’ve always voted. I’m here to offer people an alternative to the status quo.”
