Meet your local state election candidates Q&A

IN the lead-up to the state election on November 28, The Adviser invited all candidates contesting the Electoral District of Shepparton, along with candidates seeking election to the Legislative Council representing the Northern Victoria Region, to respond to four key questions relating to leadership, electorate issues, advocacy and legacy. Candidate responses have been divided across two editions of The Adviser, with the first published in this edition and the remaining responses to appear next week. The four questions put to candidates are outlined below.

1. Leadership: What experience do you have as a leader and how do you intend to use this to represent your electorate? 
2. Electorate Issues: What do you believe are the key priority issues affecting your electorate currently? 
3. Advocacy: Please outline one policy or investment that you will advocate for if elected, explaining why you think this would offer the most benefit to the community you aspire to represent. 
4. Legacy: If elected, what would you anticipate as being the legacy you’d leave, after having completed your first term? 

Cayla Fin – Labor

Leadership: I’ve been an action-focused leader for more than 20 years. I take the time to listen and understand, then roll up my sleeves and build teams of people working together to solve problems and make positive change.  

As Chief Transformation and Performance Officer at TAFE here in Shepp, I see what we need for good local education that leads to good local jobs.  

As a member of the executive team of local community organisations, I see what good people turning up, to work together can achieve for their neighbours.  

As your MP I will listen, then get to work for Shepparton.  

Electorate Issues: Shepp is proud and hardworking, but for many, life is harder than it should be.  

If you have a typical job, family and rent or mortgage – life is very hard right now. This is why free kinder, free dental and free TAFE are so important, they all keep money in your pocket. 

Our roads and freight routes, our hospital and our TAFE, all need work. I am fighting for practical investment, like improving the River Road / GV Hwy intersection. 

And even though the local criminal offence rate here is lower than it was; not everyone feels safe, and we all should be it at home, at work, on the bus, at school, or the walk home. More police and appropriate consequences for serious crimes are part of the solution, as is prevention and keeping young people in school, training and jobs. 

Advocacy: Shepp doesn’t need empty promises or job cuts.  

There is no one magic policy or capital investment to deliver this future.  

What we need is genuine, commonsense, connected policies that make it easier for industries to start, innovate and grow here; where energy usage, roads, housing and training are planned together, using local knowledge. 

What we do need is a thriving local economy that is ready for the future. 

We need good local training for good local jobs. 

And we need to use local expertise and knowledge to solve local problems.  

Because thriving local industries means good, solid local jobs. That’s what I am fighting for.  

Legacy: I will work with others to build a future for Shepparton where life is easier than it is today, because our communities deserve real cost of living relief – like continuing free kinder and public transport for kids, removing barriers to dental care, and opportunities for local education and training. This is what will make a real difference to the people here in Shepparton. 

There is great opportunity here because we have local education and training institutions that can prepare us for and lead us to great local jobs. 

We feel we are safe in our homes, workplaces and on the streets.  

We have the services and infrastructure we need in terms of roads, housing, and health to keep us safe and well – starting with fixing the River Road / GV Hwy Crossing. 

And, those that need to, will be able to catch a bus from Tat to Shepp, and arrive in time to get to work. 

 

Lou Costa – Independent  

Leadership: Leadership has been a lifelong commitment for me, I was the School Captain of Wanganui Park Secondary College in 1989. I am a graduate of the Fairley Leadership Program (2016) and the Department of Environment’s climate leadership course (2020). 

I am a past president of the Goulburn Valley Environment Group and have been involved in several successful campaigns including one that I lead in relation to VicRoads, championing community consultation and roadside conservation. 

These experiences have taught me that the first place to start in any campaign is with genuine community engagement and informed debate, followed by an intention to see the campaign through to a positive outcome.  

I believe that you cannot have successful outcomes without the ability to take the community seriously, be constructive, and make a commitment to the cause. 

Electorate Issues: We are a growing and diverse society made up of many communities. Depending on which group you listen to, you will find a different priority, specific to their needs.  

Reliable funding is a key issue, to keep programs afloat, along with spaces to meet, food security, better public transport, road surface repair, the need for skilled workers, a hospital that is fit for purpose, and the expansion of tertiary learning as well as concerns about social cohesion and integrity in politics are all issues that I’ve heard throughout this campaign.  

As a so-called safe seat, we are fighting over the crumbs we are thrown rather than thriving and excelling as a modern, progressive society that identifies a problem and solves it.  

If we are to finish the projects we have started and truly support all members of our community, we need to be independent, assertive, and compassionate so that nobody is left behind. 

Advocacy: One of many policies and investments I intend to advocate for is the completion of the hospital and associated early intervention and prevention programs for community health.  

It is without a doubt the most necessary service area in our region and a shame that we have the only regional hospital in Victoria that is not complete; unable to provide integrated cancer treatment and cardiac care.  

The hospital’s completion is also a project that everyone in the community relies upon and benefits from; it does not discriminate or exclude but rather, contributes to the successful functioning of our community.  

Legacy: A commitment to critical services such as Shepparton Foodshare and the various youth mental health groups, for funding rounds that last the duration of a government term, so they aren’t wasting time in a cycle of application and acquittal, their necessary programs are secure and they can plan for the future.  

A cohesive, reliable and regular public transport network that services not only the CBD but connects all of the towns in our district. 

A comprehensive climate risk plan enacted for our region.  

For Numurkah, to receive the funding needed to complete the levee bank that will protect 70 homes in the town from flooding. 

 

Phillip Bryant – One Nation  

Leadership: As a bombardier in the army, I led teams of up to 20 soldiers. Training for combat, dispatching parachutists out of planes, and being trained to make the hard decisions when they are needed. 

As a senior fire brigade officer, I led crews into situations where normal people would fear to go. My belief is that it is always best to lead by example and lead from the front. 

As a manager of a business, you can’t continually run on a deficit without losing your job. This is a basic leadership principal that many politicians seem to be missing.  

Electorate Issues: The second bridge being built at Wanganui Road should have been a priority for the past 30 years. This will be my first priority for the area if elected.  

In addition, I’ll be working towards the opening of a second high school in the Shepparton area. The public never voted for the super school and every concern parents had, has come to fruition since its opening. 

The Queensland fruit-fly program is also high on my agenda. The fruit industry is massive in our area, and the current government will not guarantee the funding required to protect our farmers. Under a One Nation government the required funding will be guaranteed for the next 10 years. 

Advocacy: Getting the bridge built is the investment that will offer the most immediate benefit for this region. 

Successive National Governments have planned and promised the Shepparton bypass for decades, and we have nothing to show for it.  

Having the second bridge would ease congestion, get trucks out of our town centres, and allow businesses to expand north where access is currently limited.  

Other projects like the GV Health upgrades and fixing the sorry state of our roads are also high priorities. All neglected for far too long, by the wasteful spending of our current representatives.  

Legacy: Ultimately, I didn’t put my hand up to be remembered or have my name become known. All that matters to me is for the people of this region to finally get the representation they vote for, instead of just hearing from politicians every four years with wild promises to grab votes. 

I want to do everything in my power to ensure the hospitals’ cath lab and oncology department expansions are approved, and have the second bridge approved, fully funded and construction underway before the end of my first term. 

 

Steve Brooks – Liberal Party for Northern Victoria

Leadership: I’ve held leadership roles in international business, selling Australian grain overseas, running my own farming business and serving as a year-level leader at Cobram High School. 

Through these experiences, I have learned that good leadership is about bringing people together, listening, and working as a team to get results. 

If elected, I will bring that same approach to representing Northern Victoria. I will listen to local people, understand the issues that matter to them and be a strong voice for our communities in a Jess Wilson-led Liberal and Nationals Government. 

Electorate Issues: The biggest issues facing Northern Victoria are the state of our roads, getting our fair share of infrastructure investment and having a government that works for our communities. 

After 12 years of Labor, our roads are falling apart; regional communities are missing out on infrastructure funding, and we’ve seen many broken promises, waste and corruption. 

Our government plans to turn this around. We will fix one million potholes, invest $288 million in a new Country Roads and Bridges Programs and restore a system of planned, preventative road maintenance. 

We will also introduce our Fair Share Guarantee. Regional Victoria is home to 25 percent of Victorians, we believe it deserves at least 25 percent of the state’s infrastructure spending.  

We will restore honesty and accountability to the government. 

Our government will stop the waste and make sure taxpayer’s money is spent responsibly on things that matter to Victorian families and communities. 

Advocacy: I’m a fourth-generation irrigation farmer whose family has been doing business in the Goulburn and Murray Valleys for generations. I’ve worked in businesses both big and small, so I understand the pressures facing local businesses and families. 

Under Labor the cost of doing business keeps rising, businesses are struggling and our living standards are going backwards. I want to see Northern Victoria become a place where businesses can grow, invest and create more local jobs. 

Our plan for Victorians includes lowering taxes, cutting red tape and bringing down energy costs. 

We will lift the payroll tax-free threshold to $1.2 million by 2028-29, replace 79 different sets of local business laws with one sensible set of statewide rules, and restore energy choice by allowing new conventional gas projects. 

These practical changes will make it easier and cheaper to do business, encourage investment, and create local jobs. 

A Liberal and Nationals Government will back small business and declare Victoria open 

for business again. 

Legacy: I want my legacy to ensure Northern Victoria finally gets its fair share. 

For too long, regional communities have been overlooked while billions of dollars have been wasted on cost blowouts, dodgy deals and corruption on Labor’s projects. 

That money should be going towards fixing our roads, improving local infrastructure and 

delivering the services that regional families need. 

A Jess Wilson-led Liberal and Nationals Government will clean up corruption and ensure taxpayers’ money is spent where it is needed most.