REGION - Family First have announced Neil Buller as its candidate for Mallee in the federal election on September 7.
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The taxi driver said working to address cost of living for families would be his first priority if elected.
"Families rising cost of living is really hurting, their power charges, water charges have all gone up," he said.
"The rises are sending people to the wall and breaking up families."
Mr Buller said tax decreases including the abolition of the carbon tax would ease some of the cost of living pressures being experienced.
He said more affordable and improved telecommunications for mobile phones in particular would also be a priority.
Mr Buller said he was well aware of the state of the Western Highway.
"I worked as a Victorian police officer so I am well aware of the state of the highway," he said.
"The number of fatalities over the years and the condition of the road, so investing in infrastructure is another important area."
Mr Buller said working as a taxi driver he has witnessed first hand some of the social issues in the electorate.
"Working from 5pm to 5am as I do I see a lot of drunks, a lot of people doing it really hard," he said.
Mr Buller said he believed the situation had only got worse in the last 18 months.
"We need some kind of education program or guidelines for people on welfare benefits so they are shown how to budget," he said.
Mr Buller's nomination brings to 11 the number of candidates voters have to choose from when they go to the polls.