General News
3 February, 2022
Local candidate launches Wannon campaign
A LOCAL candidate is set to challenge Dan Tehan at the 2022 Federal Election, with Mortlake business owner Amanda Mead announced as the Liberal Democrats candidate for Wannon.
A LOCAL candidate is set to challenge Dan Tehan at the 2022 Federal Election, with Mortlake business owner Amanda Mead announced as the Liberal Democrats candidate for Wannon.
Mrs Meade was joined by Liberal Democrats senate candidates Krystle Mitchell and Caroline White over the weekend to host barbecues in Mortlake and Warrnambool to hear the thoughts of locals.
But the 36-year-old is no stranger to the issues impacting the region. She is the owner of Mortlake-based salon Blush Boutique and lives on a property outside Lake Bolac with her husband, who is a police officer based in Hamilton.
Mrs Mead said she was inspired to become more involved in politics when the COVID-19 pandemic began, along with the associated government responses.
“Everything was going great, the salon was going fantastic, and then COVID-19 hit,” she said.
“It wasn’t just affecting me. I saw what other businesses were going through, especially with pubs being forced to put on takeaway only.
“I saw their staff having their hours reduced, businesses were losing money, and then I started to look in to why things were happening.
“The response to COVID was so focused on Melbourne, and the government failed to prepare out here.”
While much of the areas of concern for Mrs Mead centred on State Government issues, she saw an opportunity to think bigger with a run at the Federal Seat of Wannon.
“I started looking in to where funding for emergency services and education had gone, and realised funding for regional communities was being sent to larger hubs, and we were having our services cut,” she said.
“I became interested in Federal politics because I was trying to look at how things are being paid for.
“Even though the State Government may run the health or emergency services, it’s the Federal Government which puts in, generally, between 40 to 60 per cent ofthe funding.
“I want to focus on making sure there is allocated funding specifically for rural and regional towns to help with infrastructure andservices.”
Mrs Mead said she originally had no plans of running, but found a support group in the Liberal Democrats during the pandemic.
After meeting Caroline White at a ‘Kill The Bill’ protest in Melbourne with Liberal Democrats MP David Limbrick, she wanted to get more involved.
“I had slightly different views than what the mainstream media was talking about and I was sick of my friends having a go at me and automatically calling me right-wing,” she said.
“I am just trying to understand what is actually happening and have that conversation, rather than just being told.”
Mrs Mead said she felt her views aligned with the party and she could be part of making a difference for regional Victoria, which saw her involvement “snowball” in to a run for Wannon.
If elected, her priorities would include advocating for increased presence of emergency services in regional Victoria, supporting business through tax cuts and less red tape, ensuring equal representation for voices in smaller communities and supporting measures to allocate sufficient funding to meet the needs of regional Victoria.
“I chose to work in Mortlake because I really like the sense of community. And that’s gone,” she said.
“I don’t want to give people speeches or bombard a particular message down their throat of what they must do, I want to bring that feeling of community back tosmall towns.
“It’s okay to have different opinions. Talk about it calmly and try to see it from the other person’s point of view.”
Liberal Democrats senate candidate Caroline White said Mrs Mead was an “amazing person” who would back up her words.
“She’s a local, a successful business owner, she cares about the community and the local issues,” she said.
“She wants to see those issues resolved and only has the best interests at heart for this area.
“I’m really excited for Amanda, but also really happy for the people of Wannon to have such a strong candidate in Amanda.”
Liberal Democrats senate candidate Krystle Mitchell said the Liberal Democrats would use their platform to support country towns.
“My family roots are rural and my family roots are farming,” she said.
“While senate candidates represent the entire state of Victoria, my commitment to Wannon and to all rural communities is the voice we have in Canberra won’t just be for the city slickers.
“We have a home here in rural Victoria too and we want to make sure that voice is heard just equally and powerfully, and that they have the appropriate seats at the table to have their concerns listened to and addressed to end this perpetual state of rural Victorians consistently having less than their Melbourne counterparts.”