I’m running for Bendigo West because I love this community, and I’ve watched it be taken for granted for too long.

I’m not a career politician. I’m a Bendigo local who spent nearly 30 years as a Chartered Accountant, most of it as a partner in a local firm, helping regional towns keep their banks, their services and their futures alive. Working with the numbers for that long teaches you how budgets really work, where money gets wasted, and how to rein in debt, skills this state badly needs right now.

For close to 30 years, I’ve also been a volunteer with the CFA, serving with the Lockwood and Bendigo Brigades. I drive the same local roads as you, and I’ve seen them crumble before our eyes. I’ve seen the impact crime is having on our community, and I’ve seen what happens when local services are stretched or lost. I feel those things personally because this is where I live, work and volunteer.

I’ve spent my life turning up for this community, not just talking about it. And I’m putting my hand up now because Bendigo West deserves someone who knows it from the inside and who’ll fight to make sure our region finally gets the fair share we’re owed.