A DESIRE to give people choice and to see more funding allocated to the Wimmera are the catalysts for Horsham’s Barry Shea nominating for the state election.
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Mr Shea, a former policeman, will contest the seat of Lowan on November 24.
He believes people in the region have been missing out for too long, and wants to see Lowan become a more marginal seat.
He said the return of passenger rail to Horsham and Hamilton, funding for schools and better services and provisions for farmers were high on his priority list.
“We’re all in this safe National party seat. I think if we could get the seat of Lowan more marginal, we would be better off,” he said.
“Even sitting member Emma Kealy says herself what the problems are here in the electorate, but there doesn't seem to be much being done about them.
“That was probably the catalyst for me running.”
Mr Shea said he also wanted to run to ensure there was not a one-horse race in Lowan. He said he believed voters were savvy these days, and would not necessarily follow their family’s traditional voting patterns as people might have done previously.
“They don’t just go along with what institutions tell them to go along with,” he said.
“We’ve seen that with the banking royal commission and in religious organisations – people don’t fall for that spin anymore and just take the lines of what a politician or any other person is saying as gospel.
“As far as past elections go, what I've seen is that they promise you the world, but not a lot of those promises are fulfilled.
“If you look at the Nationals and what their promises are and what they’re running for in the state election, it’s all on the proviso of if they win, which is a very big if,” he said. “I'm not a supporter of Premier Daniel Andrews at all, but he could well get back in.
“At least as an independent, they’ve got more pull with whoever is in government.
“If a government wants to get things done, they might need the support of independents or crossbenchers.
“If you look at Bob Katter and Pauline Hanson at a national level, they have a bit of a say now.”
Mr Shea encouraged voters to think about the services they receive, and whether they feel they should be getting a better deal.
“I’ll be trying to get it out to all voters that they have a choice on election day,” he said.
“I won’t be putting out how to vote cards – I’m completely independent. Whatever preference the voter wants to put is up to them.”