JAMES Purcell has declared he will contest the 2018 state government election, but is still undecided if he will run in the lower or upper house.
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The Member for Western Victoria confirmed he would “definitely” run on Friday.
He said he would consider a change from the upper house to the lower.
“Where I run and how I run and what part of the ticket I am on is undecided,” he said.
Mr Purcell said he would conduct public consultation on where he would seek election.
“I will be going back to try and gauge from the community what they would like me to do, like I have done with the CFA issue, the voluntary assisted dying and the hospital,” Mr Purcell said.
“I think it is important that if you are going to represent the community you do what they want. So I will be going to them over the next six months and trying to work out what they believe I should do.”
He said he did not have a preference of where he ran.
“If I was choosing were I could best represent the region it would be wherever I could influence decisions,” he said.
Mr Purcell said his priorities included improving infrastructure within the region.
“We need to make certain Western Victoria doesn’t miss out,” he said.
“The big issues of roads and rail need to be sorted. We can’t miss out like in the past. I think some of the stuff in the auditor general’s report was really damning of both parties.
“Roads funding since 2010 has reduced by 60 per cent which is terrible. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen. We need to get more than our share of funding for hospitals and that we are not just regarded as being a long way from Melbourne.”
He said if he ran in the upper house he would run with his party Vote 1 Local Jobs.
“But, either way I will be independent,” Mr Purcell said.
Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell has already thrown her hat into the ring for election in the lower house.
Mrs Britnell was pre-selected by the Liberal Party unopposed in February last year. She won her seat at a by-election in 2015.
“I’m focused on working for my community, listening to them and advocating for issues they care about – including better roads, greater accountability for road repairs and ensuring regional Victoria gets its fair share,” she said.